The Cosmic Era Republic
by Miss Peeps
Summary: SEQUEL to Identification Number O04172. Six months have passed since ZAFT's sweeping victory put the Coordinators in control of the Earth. As the PLANTs consolidate their reign, rebellion sparks again, and the world must choose between tyranny and chaos. AthrunXCagalli
1. Chapter 1

**! HALT !  
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You have come across the **SEQUEL **to **Identification Number O04172**. If you start off in chapter one without reading the prequel, you will be **UTTERLY LOST**.

New readers, you should go read the original- just find it on my profile- OR read the summary of the first story (located down below the dots so that you don't spoil it by accidentally reading it if you wanted to read the original) before proceeding to the sequel so you're not scratching your head wondering what in the world happened.

Old readers, feel free to jump right to the first chapter (just scroll down the page!) or read the summary to refresh your mind.

oh, and (a) is the at symbol, which ff.n does not allow me to put in the chapter.

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**Identification Number O04172 SUMMARIZED **

140,000-plus words into 1,000! yay!

CE 71, a war has broken out between the PLANTs and the Earth Alliance over genocide on the part of the EA, and enslavement of Naturals on the PLANTs. Cagali, a spy from Orb, is sent up to PLANT to pose as a Natural slave and gather information. She ends up with Athrun Zala, a young, ZAFT red, as her 'owner.' On PLANT, she meets Athrun's friend Nicol Almalfi, who has a socially-inappropriate romantic relationship with his Natural slave, Tati, and Lacus Clyne, the daughter of the PLANT Supreme Council Chairman.

Lacus had been stuck on Earth during the first part of the war, and had gone to Orb, where she and Cagali's brother had a relationship despite her engagement to Athrun. Lacus recognizes Cagali and suspects her. Later, Lacus tells Athrun she is pregnant, breaks off the engagement, and returns to Earth to find Kira. She leaves Cagali with valuable information intended for her father.

With stress from Lacus leaving and then the death of a friend in battle, Athrun begins to develop feelings for Cagali.

Cagali sneaks into ZAFT headquarters and steals information on the Neutron Jammer Canceller and other ZAFT technology. Shortly thereafter, Cagali becomes extremely sick.

Athrun takes care of her while she is sick, and when she recovers, he informs her that he is being deployed on Earth and leaving in two days. He confesses his feelings for her, which Cagali does not accept. She leaves with Kira, who has come to retrieve her from PLANT. They steal the ZAFT Mobile suit, FREEDOM, and join up with the Orb ship, the Archangel.

On the Archangel, Cagali become one of seven mobile suit pilots- Kira Yamato, Manuel Gomez, Lloyd Carson, Abraham Brewer, Mumtaz Barr, Shinn Asuka, and Cagali. All but Cagali are Coordinator boys. Shinn is notably mean to Kira and Cagali.

At Heliopolis, the Archangel gets new mobile suits- Murasame and Blitz. On their way back to Earth, they get into a fight in space and Cagali gets a massive headache.

In Orb, Kira and Lacus meet up again and Cagali recalls her and Kira's childhood, adopted multiple times and switched around between families. Since they have turned eighteen, a package arrived at their house with the research notes of the Ullen Hibiki.

The EA plots an attack on Scandinavia and the Archangel leaves Orb to provide back up. On the ship, Cagali and Kira discuss Ullen Hibiki's research- in which he used them as experiments when they were first born, injecting them with drugs to improve mental performance. As a side effect, they suffer headaches under stress.

In Scandinavia, they battle the Destroy, Abraham is killed, and the pilot of the Destroy- Stella- is captured. Shinn takes a liking to Stella, though her health is quickly failing. Cagali believes Stella was drugged in a similar fashion to what Dr. Hibiki did to her and Kira. The Archangel gets into a brief fight with ZAFT. Lloyd is badly injured and Kira proves to be a miraculous pilot. However, upon returning to the ship, Kira collapses. We learn that Stella has passed away.

On the way back to Orb, a deadly virus spreads throughout the Archangel, affecting only Naturals. Special isolation procedures are put into place. Natural crew members are dying off, and Cagali is one of the few uninfected. The Archangel runs across a ZAFT ship and gets into a fight. In the battle, Kira, in a Blitz machine, is captured by ZAFT.

Cagali is devastated by Kira getting captured, and is comforted by Shinn. Locked away in isolation from the virus, Cagali realizes that this is the same sickness that she contracted on PLANT. She leaves isolation to see the virus for herself, and is dragged back by Shinn, who expresses his fear that she will die also.

On the ZAFT ship, Kira meets Athrun, who recognizes his name, and Nicol, who convinces Kira to side with ZAFT. They place Kira back on the Archangel and send a team to treat the "S3" virus- a biological weapon engineered by PLANT. S3 only affects Naturals. Cagali meets Nicol, who gives her a letter from Athrun. Kira talks to Cagali about seeing Athrun again.

In space, the EA attacks Heliopolis, and Heliopolis responds with nuclear force. Seeking to gain nuclear weapons, the EA sets its sights on the Orb homeland, demanding its surrender and alliance to the EA. ZAFT, hoping to keep the EA from gaining nuclear weapons, sends Orb similar demands. Orb does not side with either.

In Orb, before the ensuing battle, Kira arranges for Cagali to meet Athrun again. Cagali is not happy that he is connected with and a supporter of the use of the S3 virus to win the war, but comes to terms with their different opinions.

The EA attacks Orb first, and the Archangel team (and Cagali) fight off several of their mobile suits, before Cagali gets a debilitating headache, and leaves the battle. Unable to make if back to the Archangel, Cagali lands her mobile suit and passes out. Athrun finds her, cheesy romance ensues, and then Athrun escorts her back to the Archangel.

On the Archangel, there has been a coup d'état. The Coordinators on the ship, lead by Kira, have decided to side with ZAFT. They attempt to take Cagali prisoner, but she escapes. Kira runs after her and Cagali shoots him.

Cagali panics from having shot Kira, and thinking he is dead, she runs off and hides in a room in the living quarters. She feels extreme guilt, confusion and grief, and resolves to shoot whoever finds her in the room. Nicol finds her, but she is unable to shoot. He takes her gun away. Athrun joins them later and informs them that Kira will survive.

Cagali loses all hope in people and in fighting for anything. She realizes that she is unable to do anything to stop the impending disaster with the S3 virus, or affect the flow of the war in any way. Depressed, thinking any place is better than Earth, she asks Athrun to take her back to PLANT.

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><p><span>F<span>ile Edit View Insert Format Tools Help

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><p><strong><span>|SEND|<span> |ATTACH| |SAVE| |SPELLING| |CANCEL|**

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><p>|To:| Kira (<span>kirayamato(a)orbconnect .co<span>),

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><p>|CC:|<p>

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><p>|Subject:| Re: Cagali<p>

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><p>Font: |Arial| Size: |12| <strong>B <strong>_I _U

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><p>No, sorry. Nothing's changed. I've talked to Cagali, and she still won't talk to you. She says she doesn't hate you, she just doesn't think she can handle it. She's still trying to recover from last June. I know it's been a long time, but this takes time. Apparently a lot of time. Just try to have some faith in her. She'll come around eventually.<p>

And to the question you've been asking for the past three months, same answer. For the last time: **No**, I am not sending her back to Earth. Absolutely not. I guarantee that she wouldn't see you or talk to you. She'd be off alone and she can hardly take care of herself. I can't leave until my military service is complete and despite the way Natural slaves are treated on PLANT, I'm more concerned about the way Cagali would treat herself. Don't ask me that again.

And when I think of it, she's been getting better, just slowly. I mean, when I first brought her back, she would hardly talk to me. She at least does that now. She's trying to occupy herself more also, which I think is a good thing. No offense Kira, but I think the less she thinks about you right now the better. If anything happens, I'll be sure to e-mail you.

-Athrun.

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><p>November 11, CE 71<br>PLANT, Aprillius 4

Athrun Zala pressed send and leaned back in his chair, away from the computer screen. His hair, cut just above his shoulders, was midnight blue without the use of any hair dye and his eyes, without the use of any colored contacts, were a garish green color that might be pulled out of a box of markers. If these obviously abnormal attributes did not scream that Athrun Zala was a Coordinator, his maroon ZAFT uniform dispelled any remaining doubts.

As of two weeks ago, Athrun was twenty. He was well off for the average twenty-year-old PLANT citizen with a house, a car, a well paying job, and no significant loans to pay off. He even owned a Natural, which for the record, was quite an expensive commodity to come by. The government identified her as number O04172. Of course Athrun didn't call her by the number tattooed on her arm; he called her Cagali.

Cagali was about a year and a half younger than him. Her hair was blonde, which was actually a fairly common color among Coordinators, but her eyes were sandy brown, and rest assured, no Coordinator had eyes the color of dirt. She lived with him on Aprillius 4 and he cared for her much more than any _sensible_ PLANT citizen should care for a Natural slave. Of course, _sensible_ and _Cagali_ could hardly be associated. Nothing made sense with Cagali, not anymore. Not after the war. She wasn't the same.

The war between PLANT and the EA had nearly destroyed her. Just a few months ago, in June, ZAFT had let loose its superb biological weapon, the genetically engineered S3 virus, in two major EA cities, London in Eurasia and Washington in North America. The virus had done its job perfectly, killing Naturals mercilessly until the Earth Alliance was forced to surrender. With that, the Coordinators of PLANT gained control of all Earth Alliance territory.

And with the knowledge of the horrific ending to the war, Cagali had never been the same. She used to have a firm believe in her values of the world and would defend her point of view. Now, if asked for an opinion, she wouldn't have one to give. She used to put energy into everything she did; now she was moving through the motions with little enthusiasm at all. She used to play the piano when she had nothing to do, but she'd barely touched it since the end of the war. She just… watched television.

Athrun felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked away from his computer to see Cagali. "I made you a sandwich for dinner, if you're hungry," she said.

"Ah, thanks," he said and stood up. "What about you?"

"I'm not hungry," she said. "Just tired. I think I'll go to bed."

"It's seven o'clock. It's too early to go to bed. Did you not sleep well last night?" he asked.

"I slept just fine," Cagali told him.

"Do anything tiring today?" he asked.

"I went jogging, but nothing really. I'm just tired," she said.

At that point Athrun narrowed his eyes and asked, "Did you eat breakfast?"

To which she replied, "no."

"And what about lunch?"

"I had half a sandwich," she told him.

"You're tired because you've eaten practically nothing all day," he said sourly. "Come on, you should have something to eat too."

"I already said that I'm not hungry."

"I don't care if you say you're not hungry. You said the same thing yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. And I'm going to tell you the same thing. You have to eat."

"I just don't feel like it," she said plainly.

He gritted his teeth, trying to think of something to say. "I'll get you anything you want to eat. How about steak?"

"I don't want anything…"

"Curry? Pasta?" he suggested.

"Really, Athrun, I'm just not hungry…"

"Lobster?"

"Lobster? But that's really expensive. Don't they have to import it from Januarius 9?"

"I would buy it if you would _eat_ it. You want it?" he asked.

"No! I don't want to eat anything. I want to go to bed," she turned her head away from him sharply and moved to leave.

Athrun grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "If you eat, you'll sleep better, and then you won't be tired tomorrow." She looked back at him with out saying a word. "Please?" he urged her.

She looked down at the floor to avoid eye contact. "I don't want anything."

Athrun felt Cagali try to pull away from him. He tightened his grip on her wrist. "Cagali," he pressed. He was looking down at the top of her head. "Cagali, listen to me."

"I'm listening," she mumbled to the floor.

"Cagali, you're human, just like me. You have to eat to live."

"I know that."

"Then why are you starving yourself?"

"I'm not starving myself," she protested.

"What else do you call not eating? A diet?"

"I eat…" she trailed off.

"You eat what? Half a sandwich? Your version of half a sandwich is a paper thin piece of meat on a slice of bread. And you probably didn't eat the full slice of bread either. Even if you did eat your entire half sandwich, that's still not enough food."

"I'm well aware of my health and how much I eat. I can take care of myself. Will you let me go now?"

"Really? You think you can take care of yourself?" Athrun asked sarcastically. He let go of her wrist and held his hands up in surrender. Cagali stood still for a moment, surprised that he had let her go. "If you want to take care of yourself, go back to Earth." When he said that, her head turned to look at him sharply. Her eyes widened as she searched his face for sincerity. The color drained from her face in an instant.

"You're a Natural. You can't take care of yourself on PLANT. You'd be in far over your head if I wasn't here. If you want to take care of yourself, go back to Earth. I'm not holding you back," he told her. She didn't voice a reply. Instead, she looked into his eyes, a look of utter horror etched on her face.

Athrun felt a pang of guilt when she looked at him like that. He knew very well that, for whatever reasons, she dreaded the thought of returning to Earth. He knew that she'd rather be constantly mistreated on PLANT than return to Earth. Mentioning the idea of 'return to Earth' was the equivalent of blackmailing her… Yet, how else was he supposed handle this? She'd hardly eaten in three weeks. One way or another, pleasant or not, this had to stop.

Cagali had been up and down, up and down, since the end of the war. At first, she didn't talk but in short sentences, few and long in between. She would recoil slightly if Athrun approached her and couldn't bear to be around anyone else. Suddenly, it was as if the sun came out. She would smile and talk and enjoy the company of others. For about a week, Athrun thought she was going to be normal again.

But as soon as his hopes had risen, nightmares began to keep her awake all night. Cagali's stress from the nightmares was easy for Athrun to see. Once, she had woken him during the night to cry on his shoulder. Twice, he had been woken by some loud exclamation, only to have Cagali lock her bedroom door and tell him to leave her alone. During those days, she moved like a depressed zombie and just as she had done before, rarely spoke and avoided any form of social interaction that she could. Sleep medication had alleviated the nightmares and Cagali began to recover. Athrun was beginning to think positive again, until she came across a PLANT citizen who found it necessary to 'put the Naturals in their place', and she recoiled once more. So the cycle continued.

When she was quiet and reclusive, Athrun had come to know how to handle Cagali. Athrun found the best solution was to offer her counsel, if she wanted it, but to give her plenty of space to sort out her problems without unwanted interference. If he pressed her much, she became agitated and distressed. How ever, now she wasn't just being quiet and reclusive, she was refusing to eat. Giving her space meant letting her starve herself. She wasn't responding well to the pressure he had been putting on her for the past few days. Even so, his conclusion was final. This particular phase had to end. Now.

"Athrun… You wouldn't really…" she said meekly, hesitating in fear of her own words, "send me to Earth…"

"What do you think?" Athrun asked. "Earth is a much better place for Naturals than PLANT, even with the majority of places under ZAFT military control. And Kira's told me that Orb has hardly changed at all. He says…"

She interrupted him sharply. "I _won't _be seeing Kira," she declared. "I can't."

The words jumped out at him. A definite change in the tone of her voice made Athrun forget what he had intended to say next. He let out a slow breath. "Cagali, I know you don't want to go back. But we don't need to talk about Kira right now. Kira's not the problem.

"The problem is that you're not taking care of yourself. You're losing too much weight. Three weeks ago, your clothes fit you just fine. Now, they're baggy. That's not healthy. Do you like to watch me constantly worrying about you?"

She sighed. "But Athrun, you always worry about something. If it's not me, then it's some other petty thing."

"Don't try to brush this aside, Cagali. A self-imposed next-to-no-Calorie diet is not a petty thing. I'd be crazy if I wasn't worried."

"I'm not worried about myself. You shouldn't be either."

"What are you saying? Do you not understand? All I want to do is take care of you," said Athrun. "I want you to be safe and happy and… and well fed. Is there something wrong with that?" Cagali winced as he spoke. "Nothing?" he asked again. "I want to help you and you're not letting me. I'm only asking you to eat."

She responded with silence, nothing to say at all. Athrun hated it when she was silent. It was so unlike her. It was so unlike the Cagali he had first met. A few seconds passed as Athrun tried to think of something to say. A buzzing sound behind him made Athrun turn around; his cell phone, vibrating on the computer desk. Even such a quiet noise was sharp contrast to the silence.

"You should answer it," said Cagali, as the phone buzzed.

"We're not done talking."

"You should still answer it," she said.

Annoyed, Athrun looked away from Cagali and to the caller id. "Natural Registration," he read aloud and picked it up. "You stay here," he said to Cagali, and then spoke into the receiver, "Hello?"

-Hello. I'm calling from the Natural Registration Center. May I speak to Athrun Zala?- he heard through the speaker.

"This is he," Athrun replied dully.

-Mr. Zala, is it correct that you still have Natural Number O04172?-

"That is correct," he said.

-In accordance with the Natural Worker's Health resolution passed by the PLANT supreme council in October this year, Natural Registration is now required to obtain a blood sample from all Naturals living on PLANT once a year to inspect it for disease. The resolution requires this year's samples to be taken by first two weeks of November and we have noticed that you have yet to contact us in order to schedule an appointment for your Natural to have his or her blood drawn.-

Athrun rolled his eye, but said politely, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that was required. What is the earliest time that I could have this done?"

-The earliest available time is tomorrow morning at seven.-

"That will be fine."

-Thank you for you time. Please note that in order for the blood sample to be of highest accuracy, your Natural should not eat anything, nor drink anything other than water, for twelve hours before the blood is drawn.-

Athrun nodded, even though the person on the other end could not see. "Alright. That will be fine," he said, trying to get the person off the phone.

-Thank you for your cooperation. We will see you tomorrow morning. Have a nice day.- The person on the other end hung up the phone.

Athrun put the phone down and looked back to Cagali. She pointed at her watch and quoted, "in order for the blood sample to be of highest accuracy, your Natural should not eat anything, nor drink anything other than water, for twelve hours before the blood is drawn." Athrun felt his jaw drop slightly as the irony of the situation settled in. It was seven fifteen. "May I go to sleep now?"

Athrun let her go.

...

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><p>November 12, CE 71<br>PLANT, Aprillius 4

6:50 am, and the colony hadn't yet opened the reflectors to let in sunlight. "After this, you and I are going to go eat breakfast," Athrun announced, as he and Cagali arrived at the Natural Registration Center.

"Don't you have to go up to headquarters afterwards?" she asked him. "A good ZAFT soldier can't be late."

"Four hours from now? That doesn't even remotely concern me. This shouldn't take too long, anyways." he replied and looked to Cagali grimly. "I'm making sure you eat before I go on space patrol for the next two days. You will eat. I won't allow you to starve yourself." He parked his car, and they stepped out and began to walk towards the building together.

"I haven't been trying to starve myself, Athrun, really. When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm not hungry, I don't. That's it. I wish you would stop pestering me," she said.

"I know you say its fine, and maybe you think it is. So, humor me. Just eat the normal amount that your body needs to function and I'll stop pestering you. I promise," he told her.

They reached the NRC and Athrun let Cagali enter before him. The receptionist processed them quickly and sent them to wait; there were several other Naturals in the clinic for the same reason. Looking at the other Naturals, Athrun noticed that all but one of them were female. The one male was a boy who looked about ten years old. He'd probably be sold to a manufacturing company in a few years to get him out of this PLANT civilian occupied area. No one really wanted a male Natural. Females on the other hand were much more docile, less likely to do something along the lines of start a rebellion, kill their owner or set off a bomb.

Almost a year ago now, Orb had taken use of that and sent up a young, docile-looking female Natural, who had proceeded to break into ZAFT headquarters, in the middle of the day, and steal engineering data on nuclear technology, among other classified military information. The PLANTs been lucky it was Orb that decided to pull this stunt, rather than the Earth Alliance. Now, it didn't matter. Both Orb and the Earth Alliance were territories under ZAFT control.

Although ZAFT had traced the break in to Orb, they had the name of the Natural sent on the mission, not her identification number. PLANT didn't even keep track of the Natural's names, that being the case... Well, they weren't looking for her anymore, but when he and Cagali returned to PLANT, they had picked a generic Russian name to call her around those who didn't already know.

To think that she had been the one to pull that off, this petite, weak-looking girl that sat beside him, Athrun wouldn't have believed it. Nor would he have believed that she had been trained as mobile suit pilot as well. The way she looked down at the floor, a look of emptiness on her face, a lack of will... She didn't look capable of pulling off something like that. The way she was before, she had been careful to mimic the behavior of the other Naturals she saw, but he had seen glimpses of a much stronger person than the one sitting beside him now.

Eventually, Cagali was summoned into the back areas of the NRC. Athrun picked up a magazine, flipping through the pages carelessly as he waited. There was an ad for Natural slaves. He paused, looking at the page, feeling a strong sense of pity for any Natural unfortunate enough to find them-self on PLANT. Well, it might be better than being on Earth with the S3 virus...

After reading a mildly interesting article or two, Athrun checked his watch. Twenty minutes had passed. He glanced up and noticed that a Natural who had been called a few minutes after Cagali was now leaving. He put the magazine aside and stood. He looked down the hall in the general direction where Cagali had disappeared. He walked over the receptionist and said, "Excuse me, does it normally take twenty minutes to get a blood sample?"

The woman perked up in her seat. "Oh, no. Well, sometimes, I suppose. That's not my job really, so I don't know."

"But a blood sample? You've had Naturals in and out all morning. Could you check to see if something is wrong?" he asked.

She nodded and picked up the phone, calling back to one of the rooms to ask about Number O04172. "They said she'll be out in a minute," she told Athrun.

Slightly annoyed, Athrun returned to his seat, and watched another Natural leave. He picked up another magazine, but felt too perturbed to read whatever rubbish was written, and tossed it aside. Fortunately enough, Cagali came out within the next five minutes, one of the medics with her.

Athrun stood up as she made her way over to him. "What took so long?" he asked. Cagali looked down at the floor and ignored Athrun's question.

"She seems to be sensitive to having blood drawn," stated the medic. "She passed out for a minute."

For someone who didn't know Cagali, they wouldn't have seen any emotion portrayed on her. It was suppressed, but Athrun could see a bit of worry and guilt etched on her face, like a child knowing they would be scolded for some wrong doing.

"She says she hadn't been feeling well lately," added the medic. Athrun found this doubt-able. "Would you mind bringing her back in a week?"

"Not a problem. Is that all?" said Athrun. The medic nodded. Athrun looked to his Natural, "Well then, Cagali, shall we go?"

With that, they headed out of the NRC, to the parking lot, Cagali trailing slightly behind Athrun. They climbed into the car, and Athrun looked at her. Cagali had focused her gaze on the floorboard. Athrun didn't even bother to filter the callous from his voice when he spoke. "I think your lack of nutrition has probably left you weak enough to faint from a paper cut. What do you think?"

Cagali opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it without uttering a word. He stared at her for a few more seconds before starting the car. "I've been very patient with you, Cagali. Do you agree?" She didn't respond. Athrun pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. "I'm trying to figure out what exactly you're thinking, but you won't speak to me. Can't you tell me why you won't eat?" he asked. As usual, she gave no response.

Athrun took a deep breath, to renew his resolve. After a few more minutes of silence in the car, Athrun arrived in front of a restaurant that his friend, Nicol, recommended. This particular place's owner was receptive to Natural customers, though the Naturals were seated in the back, as to not cause problems with the other customers.

The place wasn't busy at 7:30 am, none-the-less, Athrun preferred that Cagali be separated from whatever racist moron there might be. Athrun avoided taking Cagali out like this for that very reason, and was happy to be seated in the back, out of view of the other customers. A Coordinator girl with lilac hair took their drink orders and gave them menus.

Athrun watched Cagali look at the menu. It was step up from refusing food of all sorts. "Pick something to eat." he reminded her. "If not, I'll pick something for you, and we won't leave until you eat."

She responded with a slight nod. "I can pick," she told him.

Athrun couldn't help but smile with relief. "Are you sure?" he pressed her.

"Positive. And I know, I have to eat it, too." Said Cagali.

"You knew exactly what I was going to say," said Athrun, with a bit of amusement.

"Not hard to guess when you say the same things all the time."

Athrun gave Cagali a threatening stare when the waitress came back, to assure that she ordered something.

"I wanna see you clean your plate," he said after the waitress left, "This is the only food I can be guaranteed that you consume for the next two days, since I won't be around to make sure you eat. I don't understand how you can be so masochistic."

"I'll eat, I promise," said Cagali.

Few words passed between them while they waited for the food. The lilac haired girl was back within five minutes with a large tray. In front of Athrun, she placed the vegetable omelet he had ordered. Then she began to unload Cagali's order.

A tall glass of orange juice; a bowl of fruit slices mixed in with yogurt; a stack of four pancakes with fresh berries and whip cream on top; two slices of toast; a bagel with cream cheese spread; a small bowl of oatmeal, a pile of scrambled eggs with cheese, salsa and sour cream; three slices of bacon; two pieces of sausage; and a t-bone steak. Athrun's jaw dropped. His omelet seemed like a snack compared to the feast Cagali had ordered.

The waitress left, and Athrun asked, his eyes wide as saucers, "Cagali, what did you order?"

"Super breakfast for two," she replied.

"You think you can eat all that?" said Athrun.

"You want to fatten me up, right?" Said Cagali. With that, she grabbed her fork and dug into her meal.

By the time Athrun had finished a third of his omelet, she had finished the fruit and yogurt, bagel, and oatmeal as well as half the steak. Athrun watched Cagali as she stuffed her mouth full of food and swallowed, hardly bothering to chew. Hadn't she refused to eat yesterday? The Natural girl sitting across from him had finished the steak, eggs, bacon and sausage, and was generously pouring syrup over her pancakes. Athrun finished his relatively tiny omelet, and felt quite full. Cagali was beginning to slow down. Despite of how little she had eaten over the past few days, Athrun knew there was a limit to how much her stomach could hold. She chewed a bit of pancake slowly, and forced herself to swallow. Although he was grateful to see her eat, this wasn't what he expected.

"Cagali... Are you gunna eat all of that?" Athrun asked again.

"I will," she told him.

She used the orange juice to wash down her mouthful of pancakes, and stuffed another bite in her mouth. She still had a good amount food left.

Athrun put his elbow on the table, leaning his chin on his hand. "I'm glad you rediscovered hunger. But I don't think you can finish that," he told her.

She didn't look up from her food, and took another bite.

"You've got a ways to go," said Athrun. "You don't need to finish it all. You've already eaten so much."

She shook her head. Another bite of pancakes. This one took longer to chew and longer to swallow. She had three pancakes to go. Another swig of orange juice. Another bite of pancakes. Athrun watched her eat slowly for a few minutes. Two pancakes left, and she stopped.

"Are they good?" Athrun asked. She nodded, not looking up from the plate. Athrun reached over with his fork, taking a bite for himself. The syrup and pancakes were incredibly sweet, not quite to his taste. He reached over again to take another bite. Something wet dropped on his hand.

Athrun leaned forward, looking at Cagali's face, which she hid by refusing to look up from her plate of pancakes. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Cagali..." said Athrun, at a loss for words. She took another bite and stuffed it in her mouth. "Cagali... stop eating," he said, and pulled the plate away from her.

She hiccupped, even more tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Athrun," she said.

"D... don't cry, here," Athrun stammered, grabbing his napkin and passed it to Cagali.

She covered her face with his napkin. "I'm sorry, I forget where I am. I can't let myself cry here," she said, with another hiccup. "The new NExTA resolution... for Natural Health... The people at the NRC are supposed to check if privately owned Naturals are being abused. They noticed... they said... you're so weak. And you're so skinny. Is your owner feeding you...?" her voice cracked. "I told them it was my fault not yours but they didn't believe me... They checked me for bruises... And I have one here," she pointed to her right shoulder. "I told them it wasn't your fault. I told them you took good care of me. But they said they could take me away from you. And I'd never see you again... and I was... I was so scared that they might..." She hiccuped again, wiping her tears away with the napkin. "I'm so sorry, Athrun. I'm so sorry..."

Athrun couldn't think to do anything other than stare. Then he put both elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands and groaned. His fingers ran through his hair, his fingernails digging into his scalp. "Cagali..." he said her name. "If you were taken away from me, you'd be sold to someone else. You would probably never be able to return to Earth. Everyone you know, you'd probably never see again. The rest of your life you'd be a slave, here. This is PLANT, Cagali. Don't forget where you are."

"I hadn't even thought that far," said Cagali, with another hiccup. "I only thought about you... I don't want to be alone, Athrun... I'm so sorry..."

"You have to eat," Athrun told her, a stern tone in his voice. She reached for the plate he had taken away. "Not now, every day, at least two meals. Preferably three. And next time you decide to do something stupid like starve yourself or hurt yourself or... I don't know, stop breathing, I hope you can remember this."

"I didn't decide to starve myself," she said. "I kept thinking, thinking about everything. Everything they show on television on from Earth, everything that's happened, and I remember everything. Then when I see food, I can't bring myself to eat. I'm not hungry, and if I do eat, I just feel awful."

Cagali never finished the rest of her meal. After she calmed down, Athrun paid the bill and took her home. He changed into his ZAFT uniform, to leave for two days. He took the power cord to his desktop computer and the cable wire to the television and put them in his car. The last thing Cagali needed was to watch videos taken by the ZAFT occupation forces on Earth- short, bloody battles against remaining rebels, overcrowded hospitals full of Naturals infected with S3- which were almost constantly playing on the news.

"You can't let yourself think about the past, Cagali. What's done is done. You have to think about your life here and now. You don't need to be thinking about things that don't affect you, or worrying about things you can't do anything about. Bad things will always happen," he told her. "You have to live your life. No more television. No more internet news. They only show the worst things anyways."

Eleven o'clock. He needed to leave for headquarters soon.

"I wish you were coming back today," said Cagali.

"I'll be back before you know it," said Athrun.

"I know. But still. I don't want to be alone right now," she said.

Athrun looked at the Natural girl whom, when he had first met her, he would have never imagined that there would be any relationship between them. Now, he wanted nothing more than to make her happy, to never see tears in her eyes again. He wanted to hold her in his arms and never let go. Unfortunately, he could only hope that Cagali returned those feelings, even in the slightest sense.

He reached towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed her shoulder slightly and gave her an assuring smile. Anything more affectionate than this was pushing it with Cagali. She looked up at him, and Athrun found that he couldn't look away from her eyes. Sandy brown. He wondered why so many Coordinators had their genes edited so that their eyes would be fancier colors. The natural color was beautiful by itself.

Cagali fidgeted slightly. I guess I should expect this, thought Athrun. He was probably making her uncomfortable by being so close. He retracted his hand. To his surprise, she practically jumped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, clinging with all the strength she had. Her face was pressed against his shoulder, the top of her head underneath his nose. He felt as if something had exploded inside him. An uncontrollable smile spread across his face. Athrun wrapped his arms around Cagali, savoring the warmth of the embrace. How long had it been since she had last let him hold her? Three months?

A few minutes must have passed while he stood there, holding her in his arms, running his hand up and down her back. He couldn't help but think that there was nothing better in the world than this. Even so, other duties called, and he had to push her away.

"I need to leave, Cagali. I'll be back before you know it," he told her again, pulling away.

She stepped back, and nodded, giving him a forlorn look as he headed out the door.

"Don't look so sad, Cagali," said Athrun, still unable to wipe the smile off his face, despite Cagali's cheerless face. "Smile. You look like the sun when you smile, with your blonde hair," he told her.

She smiled, letting out a slight laugh. "The sun? You can't even see if from inside the colonies."

* * *

><p>November 14, CE 71<br>PLANT, Aprillius 4

Athrun Zala returned to Aprillius 4 after an uneventful patrol around four o'clock in the afternoon, and was out of ZAFT headquarters by five. He checked the mail when he arrived home, sifting through for items of interest. A worthless catalog, a page of coupons and advertisements, the water bill. An official looking envelope caught his interest. He opened it on the way to the door.

It was legal information regarding his inheritance. Athrun had never imagined that he, the only living member of the Zala family, would have trouble claiming the family inheritance and accessing trust funds set up in his name. Unfortunately, until recently, he had been underage, and unable to access any of this. Now that he was twenty, he could enter into the legal process to claim his family's assets.

He opened the door to his house and froze. He could hear piano music, notes drifting through the house. She was playing the piano again. The song she played was smooth and relaxing. The tone changed between minor and major as she made variation on a warm melody. Athrun smiled, but did not dare go greet her now, lest she stop playing. He sat in the kitchen, where she couldn't see him, and listened to the music as he read through the details of gaining legal access to his inheritance. He sifted through the rest of the mail, and found a hand addressed, square envelope. He opened it, pulling out the card inside. Gold ribbons ran around the edge of the card, and red, cursive script read:

_You are cordially invited to the wedding of  
><em>

_Kira Yamato_

_and _

_Lacus Clyne_

_Monday, December 23, 71_

_Seating begins at 3:30 pm  
><em>

Athrun briefly glanced at the details before heading into the other room, where Cagali was playing the piano. He stood behind her, watching. She didn't notice him until he placed the card on the piano, in front of her. She turned to him.

"Welcome back," she said.

"Don't you think you should go?" he asked, pointing to the card. Cagali picked up the card and examined it. "He is your brother. You only have one chance to go to his wedding," said Athrun.

"In the best case scenario," added Cagali, still looking over the card. "I don't know if I can," she handed it to Athrun.

"You have to see him eventually. He e-mails me all the time, you know. Concerned about you," said Athrun. "It's a month away. I have a week's leave from ZAFT right about then, for Christmas. We could go to Orb."

"I'll think about it," said Cagali.

* * *

><p>AN: Emo Cagali is really hard to write... just thought I'd tell you.<p>

And I have a survey on my profile (the web address is at the bottom of my profile page) about what characters the readers would like to see survive/not in this story. If you're feeling up to it, I'd love feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I have a survey on what characters you think should survive this story/not, the web address is at the bottom of my profile page. If you feel like taking it, please do~ (if you've already taken it, please don't take it twice.)

Also, is there anyone who feels up to beta-ing this story? if so, send me a message.

* * *

><p>February 13, CE 69<br>PLANT, Aprillius Four

"Please, Athrun, please, please, please, please. Help me, as a neighbor, as a friend, as a fellow human being, there's-no-one-else-I-can-ask, _Athrun, _pleeeeeaaaase," his friend had begged him.

In the thirteen years that they'd known each other, Athrun had never seen Nicol so adamantly beg for something. It was a horrible idea. Yet he pleaded and pleaded, hands clasped together, down on his knees. He couldn't resist. Athrun had given in. Now, They were on the bus, on the way to the auditorium where the new Natural arrivals auctions were held.

How could he have resisted? They were childhood friends, next door neighbors on farm plots on Junius Seven, only one year apart. They went to the same elementary school. In fact, Nicol's parents had hired Athrun to tutor Nicol in math and science, since their son was too busy obsessing with the piano to care to read a text book. Nicol was every PLANT parent's nightmare. The child that would forsake the disciplines that would bring him or her a decent living and pursues the arts. The Almalfis had fought against it, but in the end, they gave in and sent Nicol to get the best musical training available at the Jean Sibelius Music Conservatory in Helsinki. He had been at the music school in Scandinavia for two years when his parents called him back, due to the heightening tensions between PLANT and the EA.

Athrun had also been away from home at school, but he was attending the ZAFT academy, on his father's wishes. The ZAFT academy was both patriotic and had one of the best engineering certification programs on PLANT. He'd completed his studies, and was on a one month leave before graduation. Then his five year service in ZAFT would begin. He'd done well in school. At graduation, he would receive his mechanical engineering certification, his red pilot's uniform, and the first of his ZAFT assignments.

Graduation was only two weeks away, and he was spending part of his valuable time off running errands for the family and now, helping Nicol buy a Natural just to send her back to Earth.

"If my parent's didn't send me here to sign for my grandmother's shipments from Earth, you'd be on your own," said Athrun.

"If your parents didn't send you here, I'd have trouble finding an excuse to get to Aprillius four," said Nicol. "They were so happy that I wanted to tag along with you and go explore the capital, rather than play piano all day. I think it's fate."

"Fate? You know how much of a ruckus this will cause when we get back home?" said Athrun. "I'm blaming you entirely. Just so you know."

"I'm grateful for your help. I'd buy her myself if it was just two weeks later..." said Nicol. "Fifteen is still underage. But you're seventeen already, so you can purchase a Natural."

The bus stopped at their destination, and the two disembarked. There was a poster tacked up on the bus stop with the image of a smiling Patrick Zala. _For the development of PLANT's self-sufficiency, re-elect Patrick Zala. _The elections weren't until August, but Athrun's father's re-election campaign had already started.

"My father is going to kill me when we get back to Junius Seven," said Athrun. "Helping you buy a Natural just to send her back to Earth is against his campaign platform for a more self-sufficient PLANT. Especially from people like us, from the Junius colonies. There are tons of Natural workers there. If the media gets a hold of this information, my father just might disown me."

"My parents aren't going to be happy with me either. You know my dad's a big supporter of your dad's political views," said Nicol. "They've got such closed minds. Ever since I got back from Helsinki, it's all I can pay attention to, the way Naturals are treated here. They're smart, normal people. Bringing Naturals up here is terrible."

"Naturals are brought up and sold every day, you know," said Athrun. "You send one back to Earth, so what, they'll bring up a replacement."

"I know that... And I can try to ignore it if it's a bunch of strangers, but I _know_ her. She's one of my best friends from the Sibelius Conservatory. Imagine if it were Lacus. Wouldn't you do everything you could to help her, even if your father was against it?" asked Nicol. "When I heard that Tati had gotten picked up..."

"Yeah, I get it, I've agreed to help you, but I still think this is a terrible idea," said Athrun.

"That building over there, isn't it?" Nicol pointed.

Athrun followed Nicol. His friend had done the research on the location and the processes; Athrun didn't know where he was going or what he was doing. They arrived at the building and Athrun filled out the necessary paper work, and was shown how to make a bid for a Natural on his phone.

He and Nicol went inside, getting a seat near the front, where they could see the girls up close. The auction started. Athrun had to admit that it was one of the most disgusting things he had seen. They brought up girls one at a time- all of them teenagers, dressed up in something that resembled a school uniform. Each and everyone looked terrified. The auctioneer called out information about them, spun them around in circles, and poked and prodded them in all places.

Finally, they came to number O02949. Nicol nudged Athrun. "That's her," he said. "Hurry up and bid."

"Wait," said Athrun.

"Let's start off at P.C. 800. Anyone for P.C. 800 for this girl?" On a screen, the first bid popped up. "P.C. 850 anyone?" Another bid.

"Athrun-!" Nicol urged him.

"I know, I know." Athrun sighed and put in his bid. P.C. 900. It would cost at least P.C. 600 to send her back to Earth.

Up the prices went. P.C. 1000, 1200, 1400. His parents would be calling him shortly after this purchase, he knew. She sold for PC. 2550. Combined with her ticket back to Earth, at least P.C. 3150 wasted on this girl. Nicol promised to pay him back as soon as he had the money.

An hour later, Athrun was filling out paper work and transferring funds from his account to pay for the girl. Nicol, having not bought a Natural, was left waiting outside.

Transaction complete, Nicol's friend from Earth was brought out. She looked to be the same age as Nicol- fifteen. She was lean, with brown hair and glasses. She kept looking at the ground and then glancing up at him, and then back down to the ground. Even more so than normal, the younger ones like her always acted terrified of Coordinators. They had the behavior engrained in them from the holding camps...

"Introduce yourself, girl," said the person handing her over to Athrun.

She spoke with a slight accent. "I'm Tati. P... pleasure to serve you," she said.

It was the name that Athrun had heard again and again over the past few days in Nicol's begging for his assistance. "Let's go," he said. Nervously, she stepped away from the traders towards him. Athrun headed towards the exit making sure she was following him. "You don't need to be so frightened anymore. This is your luck day, Tati." She looked no more at ease.

He pushed open the door to step outside. Nicol was waiting right by the entrance, pacing back and forth. "Did you get her?" he asked.

Athrun nodded. "I got her." He looked back inside, where the girl was nervously following him. He gestured for her to come outside.

She stepped outside and froze, staring at Nicol in disbelief. "Nicol?" she asked.

"Yeah. Are you alright, Tati?" he asked. She didn't move an inch from where she stood. Frozen, staring, trembling. "It must have been awful. I heard from your parents that you'd gotten picked up. You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm going to send you back to Earth."

And then she jumped, throwing her arms around Nicol, sobbing uncontrollably.

Athrun's phone rang. He checked the number. It was his mother. Did she already know that he'd just spent over P.C. 3000? He took in a sharp breath of air, not wanting to admit his atrocity. He declined the call.

December 21, CE 71  
>ZAFT Protectorate, Orb Union, Onogoro<p>

In the distance, behind a mountain covered in green, he could see the blue ocean sparkling in the sun's rays. The nineteenth story window boasted a fantastic view of the island. The Orb capital was bustling and busy. Cars crowded the high way, busses and trains carried commuters. Sunlight gleamed off the windows of the high-rise buildings crowding the downtown area. If he looked down to the street level, not too far from the hotel was an open park with a large fountain in front of what was formerly Orb's military development center- Morgenrate. Of course, no military related activities were being run by Orb now- ZAFT saw to that.

As he looked out the window Athrun Zala listened to the news with mild interest. It was quite a bit different from the abundant, freely critical commentary on PLANT. The Orb news showed nothing that cast the PLANTs or ZAFT in a negative light. No devastation from the S3 virus. No Natural slaves. No dissatisfaction among people in Orb or Scandinavia, and next to no news from the former EA territories for that matter. According to the Orb news stations, everything in the world seemed to be fine. He supposed this was what they called 'censorship.'

He wondered about Orb's internet network. Just a few months ago, the PLANT satellite network system, previously cut off for security during the war, had been reconnected to certain areas of Earth including Orb. He wondered if negative news from PLANT websites was accessible here. Electronic communications were more difficult to censor, but considering the level of security he and Cagali had to go through when they entered the country, he wouldn't be too surprised if PLANT had devised some measure to deal with this as well.

Athrun had been surprised to encounter a legion of fellows in green ZAFT uniforms running immigration and security. He and Cagali were questioned and fingerprinted, their travel documents scrutinized, luggage thoroughly inspected... They even had to undergo a medical examination.

Previously, by global standards, Orb had had an open immigration policy. When persecution of Coordinators in EA territory became problematic, there had been a giant immigration boom in Orb, especially from the East Asian Republic and the United States of South America. Both Coordinators and Naturals flooded into Orb. As a rule, Coordinators in North America fled to the PLANTs, and those in Europe, either to the PLANTs or Scandinavia. Currently, PLANT was mandating a closed immigration system for the previous refugee-magnet nations. Athrun understood the logic. The last thing PLANT needed was for someplace like Orb or Scandinavia to become a breeding ground for Blue Cosmos.

His cell phone rang.

"Hello?" said Athrun.

Kira's voice greeted him from the receiver. -I'm out in front of the hotel. Are you two coming down?-

"Kira, I told you to call the hotel phone, not my cell phone. The data network charges me PC4 a minute for calls outside of PLANT," said Athrun.

-Sorry, I forgot-

"Anyways, you'd probably better come up. Cagali might not react well to seeing you again," Athrun told him.

-As long as she doesn't have a gun, I think I'll be alright.- Kira replied, jokingly.

"Yeah... You probably shouldn't say that to her. Anyways, I'm in room 1912."

-I'll be there in a minute. Bye- Kira hung up.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Athrun opened it. Contrary to what one might expect of two siblings, Cagali's twin brother was a Coordinator while she was a Natural. It wasn't impossible, but definitely wasn't common. He had normal colored brown hair, but like many so Coordinators, upon closer look, his violet irises hinted that he had undergone one of the popular cosmetic genetic modifications especially common in his generation.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to evade the cameramen on the way here," said Kira. He stood on his toes, trying to peer past Athrun into the room. "Where is she?" he asked.

"She's in the room next door," said Athrun, pointing to his left. Kira turned and took a step in that direction before Athrun sharply grabbed him by the arm. "Wait a minute. If you go over there without me, she'll panic."

Kira sent an impatient glare his direction and jerked his arm out of Athrun's grip, heading over to Cagali's room anyways. Quickly, Athrun grabbed his room key. He could hear Kira eagerly knocking on the door to Cagali's room. He stepped out of his hotel room just in time to see Cagali open the door.

He heard her gasp, and Athrun found himself holding his breath as well. She stood motionless in the door frame, her lips parted slightly, her eyes widened in shock. She didn't even notice Athrun; her attention focused entirely on Kira.

"Long time no see," Kira said, beaming.

A few seconds passed where she looked at Kira, frozen in shock. Then abruptly, Cagali slammed the door. The locks clicked.

Kira stumbled back, his face mirroring Cagali's shock.

"I warned you," said Athrun, pushing Kira aside. "Cagali?" he knocked on the door. "Cagali? Will you let me in?"

There was no response. Athrun glanced at Kira, irritated. "I knew this would happen, you know. She was so adamantly against the whole idea of coming here, I only managed to convince her to come a few days ago. And then she got so nervous the night before we left, she took sleeping medication and still stayed up all night."

Kira's face, so excited to see Cagali a moment before, was forlorn. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She hasn't spoken to me since June. Why start now..."

"I don't know exactly what's going through her head," said Athrun. He knocked on the door again. "It's just me, Athrun," he said to the door. "Cagali?"

"I guess I'll wait out here," said Kira, eyes looking down to the carpet.

"That'd probably be a good idea." Athrun knocked a few more times, and heard the lock click. The opened door just enough for Cagali's eye to peak through the gap. "Cagali, will you please let me in?" he pleaded. "Only me."

Silently, she conceded, and let Athrun slip inside. Kira was left out in the hall. Athrun took a deep breath as the door clicked shut behind him. He followed her into the room, where she sat on the foot of the bed.

Athrun grabbed a hold of Cagali by the shoulders, leaning down close so that she was forced to look him in the eyes. "He's your brother, Cagali."

"I know that," she closed her eyes, looking down.

"You were so close, weren't you? You haven't spoken to him since... he was taken off the Archangel," Since he was taken off the Archangel and rushed to a hospital in Carpentaria for emergency treatment for the wound she had inflicted. He was lucky to be alive. Athrun chose his words carefully. She hadn't any contact with him since she shot him in the chest six months ago. "He's been worrying about you." Athrun shook her lightly, but got no further response. He let her go. "I'm letting him in," he announced.

He took only a few steps towards the door before she stood up and grabbed his arm. "Please... don't. I'm not ready."

"When will you be ready?"

"I don't know..."

"We came all the way to Orb. I'm letting him in." said Athrun. "I'll be here with you too, you don't need to worry so much." She looked no more assured than before. He had to pry Cagali's fingers off his arm. She sat back down on the bed. Athrun opened the door to the room, silently ushering Kira in.

Kira followed Athrun inside and stood beside him, across from Cagali. Kira stared at his sister, or rather the top of her head, seeing as she refused to look up from the carpet. Cagali, he presumed, had nothing to say and Kira was at a loss of words as well. The silence between them was palpable. Athrun racked his mind for a way to break the ice.

Kira sat down on the bed, a little ways away from Cagali. She stiffened visibly, and shifted away. "I was really starting to think you wouldn't come," said Kira. "I'm really glad you changed your mind... I haven't seen you in so long. I never imagined that you would go up to the PLANTs and not want to come back... Have you been alright?"

Cagali only nodded, not even looking in Kira's direction. Athrun leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. He could already tell that this wasn't going well.

"I'm so glad you decided to come. You couldn't possibly skip out on your only brother's wedding, right?" he prodded.

Kira paused, regarding Cagali, and then kept talking. "Have you seen any pictures of Imber? She's sixteen weeks old now. I know I sent some pictures to Athrun."

She shook her head no. That was true. Athrun had seen the pictures and offered to show them to Cagali, but she hadn't wanted to look.

"She's the cutest thing in the world," Kira said, pulling out his phone to find pictures. He found a picture. Athrun looked over at the picture and recognized it. The picture showed a plump baby in a frilly pink dress, a head covered in strawberry-blonde fuzz and a large, pink bow. A pretty young woman with long, pink hair sat behind her, holding her up in a sitting position. The baby was smiling, her bright, violet eyes looked up at the camera.

"Look at her cheeks," said Kira. "Like Lacus's. But her hair... looks a bit like you, Cagali. And look at this picture; it's like she's trying to do a push up."

In this picture, the baby wore only a diaper. She lay on her stomach and had pushed herself up on her arms. She regarded the camera with curiosity.

"Apparently, she's not supposed to be able to push herself up like that for another month," Kira explained enthusiastically, "Oh, and she tries to sing! She can't talk yet, but whenever Lacus sings to her, it's like Imber is trying to sing too. Ah, why didn't I take a video of this," Kira muttered to himself.

He went through picture after picture, and waving them in front of Cagali insistently. "Isn't she cute?" he asked.

Cagali only nodded.

"And this is a picture right when she was born. She's adorable isn't she?" Kira asked. This time, he showed the picture to Athrun.

In Athrun's opinion, the new born looked like a bloody prune. "Um, yeah, sure is," Athrun said.

"I'm glad you can finally meet her," Kira nudged Cagali, smiling.

Cagali looked up at him. "Kira..." He stopped speaking. They looked eye to eye. "I... shot you," she said.

"Yeah..." Kira took a deep breath and sighed. He returned his phone to his pocket. He leaned back, supporting himself with his arms."That hurt." he said.

She looked aghast. "That's all you have to say? It hurt? I almost _killed_ you."

"Good thing your aim's a bit off, huh?" he raised his eyebrows. "I got lucky."

"You act like nothing's happened between us. Don't you remember?" Cagali asked.

"You shot me, and the bullet was only three centimeters away from my heart, even closer to my left pulmonary," he said. He pointed to the spot on his chest. She fell silent again. "How could I forget?" Kira paused to take a deep breath. "I deserved it. Isn't that what you're thinking Cagali? You hate me."

"I don't hate you. But what you did..." she said, barely above a whisper.

"I'm a traitor, right? I joined up with ZAFT and let them spread S3. A lot of people are dead because of me. I should have to suffer, right?"

Did he have no tact at all? Athrun wondered. Cagali cringed, turning her head away from Kira. Athrun uncrossed his arms, and instinctively moved towards Cagali. "You shouldn't be saying..." he started in protest.

"No. This needs to be sorted out." Kira interrupted Athrun. "It's between me and her."

Athrun looked between the twins. Kira was determined. Cagali was trying to shrink and disappear. His heart went out to Cagali, but perhaps this wasn't his place to interfere.

Kira turned his focus back to Cagali. "Tell me, is that what you're thinking?" Kira pressed. "Have I been punished enough? Then you run off to PLANT- are you somehow immune to how Naturals are treated there? Do you have any idea how much I _worry_? Is this a sadistic way for you to get revenge? You haven't contacted me or spoken with me or anything at all over the last six months. Is this punishment too? What amount is enough? Do you wish you'd killed me?"

"No!" she said. Her voice cracked so that the exclamation was hardly more than a strained whisper. "No, no, never..." She said again, her voice now audible, but still soft.

"Really?" Kira asked. "You seem to want me to disappear from your life altogether. Might as well be dead to you."

"No, Kira, there's nothing you could do to deserve that. There's no excuse. Nothing could justify what I did. We were so close. You were always there for me, helping me, you had your reasons, I know. But I," she choked. "You should hate me."

Kira shook his head. "Don't you know that's impossible? I'm sorry, so sorry, for everything you've gone through because of me. A lot happened. But I'm ready to forget about it. I'm alive. I have a family. People who are more important to me than anything else in the world. A daughter, Lacus, and you too, Cagali. I've only got one sister. So please remember, I don't hate you. Quite the opposite."

And then her arms were thrown around Kira's neck as she apologized again and again. "You must be a saint, to be able to forgive me," she said. Athrun felt something inside of his chest grow heavy. Maybe it was seeing her so torn up, or the thought that he doubted that she valued him anywhere near as much as she did Kira.

It was nearly half an hour before Cagali regained her composure. When she did, Kira reminded them of their plans to meet Lacus for lunch.

"Cagali, don't you have a long sleeved shirt?" Kira asked.

"No, the weather is so hot here, why would I pack any?" she said.

Kira pointed at the underside of his left forearm, near the joint. "You can't go around with that number on your arm showing. You know that Orb is effectively under the control of PLANT, right?" he asked. She nodded. "You're not technically a slave here, but there's been a growing number of people from PLANT here in Orb now a days. It could be problematic."

"Don't tell me the Natural slave market is expanding to Orb now," Athrun said, surprised at the implications. He thought the Natural's

"No, but with the influence from PLANT authorities, cases of discrimination against Naturals- especially anyone with a number on their arm- haven't been treated fairly recently," said Kira.

"I see," said Cagali, the tattoo.

"Not to mention the camera men and news reporters that have been following Lacus and I around. She's pretty well know on PLANT," Kira added.

"I have a shirt you can use for today," Athrun offered.

Cagali agreed, and changed into Athrun's shirt. She looked slightly silly in a white, men's dress shirt which was clearly too big for her.

The three joined up with Lacus for lunch. Of course, Lacus came toting the lively, four month baby Imber. Athrun enjoyed catching up with Kira and Lacus after several months, although Kira's tendency to dote over his daughter made it somewhat difficult to maintain a conversation.

Lacus was undoubtedly cheerful, optimistic, and happy with life in general. Sitting next to Cagali, Kira's pink haired fiancé' was a sharp contrast to the Natural, who was clearly trying her best to act pleasant, but failing miserably by falling silent and spacing out every few minutes. She seemed to relate to the baby more than the others at the table, dangling her napkin in front of her nice to listen to her squawk in delight.

Cagali wasn't much for conversation. The only thing he remembered her saying without being prompted was "what has Shinn been doing since I left for PLANT?"

"He enlisted in ZAFT, and is stationed somewhere in the Atlantic Federation territory," Kira said.

"That's too bad, I thought maybe I could meet him," she said.

After finishing lunch, Kira and Lacus apologized for not having more time to spend with them, but had things to prepare for the wedding. Cagali assured them that she and Athrun didn't need a ride anywhere.

As they left, she looked to Athrun. "I'm glad they're happy, but talking to them makes me tired," she said.

"That bad?" he asked.

"I don't belong there with them," she said.

"How so?"

"Can't explain it. It's just a feeling."

That afternoon, he and Cagali walked down the downtown area of Onogoro and stopped to buy her a couple of long sleeve shirts for the remainder of their stay in Orb. In the late afternoon, the sun reflected off the skyscrapers in a way that made that made the pedestrians on the streets bellow broil, so they decided to return to the hotel. Thus passed the first day in Orb.

.

* * *

><p>December 22, CE 71<br>ZAFT Protectorate Territory, Orb Union, Onogoro

Kira had made a good call with the long sleeved shirt. When Athrun checked his e-mail the next morning, he saw a candid photo of the group eating lunch. Cagali was standing next to Lacus, and the shirt he had lent her was fortunately hiding her status as a Natural slave.

Kira had picked them up first thing in the morning. Athrun had volunteered to spend his second day in Orb helping put up wedding decorations.

She was pursing her lips together, sitting stiffly in the back of Kira's new four-seat car. He could see her in the rear view mirror. Athrun had reached back and patted Cagali on the leg as a gesture of assurance. Judging by the way she had taken a hold of his hand and begun squeezing the life out of it, meeting Kira was not the only thing in Orb she dreaded.

Kira and Lacus had designated tomorrow's wedding as a formal event. While Athrun was able to pull a formal-style suit out of his closet on short notice, Cagali had no such outfit on PLANT. Neither did she have an appropriate dress in her closet at Kira's house. Therefore, they were dropping her off at the Athha estate.

Athrun was surprised when Kira drove up to a gated community, where Kira had his identity checked and license plate recorded by a guard. As they drove through the neighborhood full of large houses, Cagali's grip tightened on his hand. Athrun was sure his fingers were going to fall off when they pulled up in front of a large, three story house, complete with a well tended garden and fountain in the yard.

"Cagali, this is your house?" Athrun asked surprised. "I had no idea you were so wealthy."

"No. It's my father's house," she replied. "Your parents didn't exactly have average incomes, but you're not rich," she added.

"By unfortunate circumstances, my family had a lot of money invested in Junius 7," said Athrun, "And the majority of my family's would-be-assets are tied up in trust funds."

"Right, so your parent's wealth has little to do with yours," she said.

"I beg to differ," said Athrun. "I am by no means poor, and by the looks of that house, neither are you."

She sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Cagali doesn't like to be labeled by her father's status," Kira said. "Keep nagging her, she might get mad."

"I should go ahead and get this over with," said Cagali. She opened the car door and let go of Athrun's hand. The blood returned to his fingers with a tingling sensation

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Athrun asked.

She nodded. "You'd only make things worse," she said. "I have to go talk to him by myself. You two should go ahead a leave. This is an all day ordeal." She pushed the car door closed and began walking towards the house.

Athrun shook his hand as he watched her walk up to the front door. "She told me that her father is involved in aero-space engineering."

"...That's a humble way to put it," said Kira.

"Athha..." Athrun thought of Cagali's last name, and the size of the house, "Don't tell me. Orb Aero and Space Corporation?" he asked.

"He's one of the top share holders," said Kira.

"Wasn't that where you said you were working now?" Athrun asked.

Kira nodded again. "Yeah, Mr. Uzumi was nice enough to give me a job on short notice."

"I had no idea," said Athrun.

"She doesn't talk about her father much. They don't get along well," said Kira.

From where he sat, Athrun saw Cagali be let into the house by what appeared to be a maid. Kira started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"How so?" asked Athrun.

"That's a very broad question... where to start," Kira mused. "Well, basically, she's a bit of a rebel child. Cagali has given Mr. Uzumi a run for his money quite a few times."

Athrun tilted his head to the side, the image of 'rebel children' surfacing in his head. On PLANT, rebel children were known as petty vandals, shop lifters, binge drinkers and the inventors of new narcotic substances. Somehow, Cagali did not fit that image. "Really? I can hardly imagine Cagali running around at night and causing havoc."

Kira laughed, "No, no, she's never done anything illegal or stupid. It's just that she's of the mindset that 'just because he's my father doesn't mean he can tell me what to do.' She wants to be independent, and make her own decisions, which are in stark contrast from what Mr. Uzumi wants her to do."

"Like?" Athrun prompted.

"Like, when she was thirteen, she found a job in Onogoro, ran away from home and dropped out of school. All to show that she could be independent. Not the brightest idea on her part. Mr. Uzumi managed to talk her out of that, though." Kira said.

"All kids do stupid things. What about recently?" he asked.

"If I just count the major offenses..." Kira began ticking off the things she'd done on his fingers. "Moved out of her father's house and started living with me, joined the military, trained as a mobile suit pilot, accepted a mission to PLANT that had her pose as a slave, fought on the front line in battle- am I leaving out anything?" Kira asked. "Oh, yes, and then she went back to PLANT to live with her ZAFT boyfriend, who keeps her as a Natural slave." Kira raised his eyebrows at Athrun.

"I don't think you could call me her boyfriend," said Athrun. "But I suppose you have a point."

"If you're not her boyfriend, then what are you?" asked Kira.

"You know what? I'm not sure myself," said Athrun. "Friend? Roommate?"

"She's been living with you for several months now, and you mean to tell me nothing has happened?" Kira asked.

"Pretty much," said Athrun.

Kira didn't look convinced. "Some of the things Cagali has done..." Kira shook his head, "As a father, I can only pray that when my daughter becomes a teenager, she's nothing like my sister," said he, and then added. "Don't tell Cagali I said that."

Athrun laughed. "I can understand. By the way, do you know of anywhere I can get a hotel reservation Tuesday and Wednesday night?" he asked. "Everywhere I've looked is booked. I know Orb's a nice place to visit, but aren't there travel restrictions? I can't believe I can't find a room."

"Don't you already have reservations?"

"Cagali only decided to come to Orb right before we left. I couldn't find two rooms in the same hotel for the entire stay, so I ended up just booking through the twenty-third."

"Ah, you need to book for Christmas Eve. You're not going to have much luck finding a room. It's a couple's holiday. They book all the hotel rooms at least a month in advance. You can probably find something for the twenty-fifth, but the twenty-fourth?" Kira contemplated this for a second. "I'd suggest the inn in Mt. Haven, but I suppose with the proximity to the beach, it'll be booked. You can Cagali can stay with Lacus and I if you can't find a place." he offered.

"I'm not sure that Cagali will be up to spending the night there," said Athrun. "That was one of the conditions she gave me for coming- not staying at Kira's house."

Kira frowned where he sat. "It's her house too. It's under both of our names. But surely, just one night can't be that bad," he said.

"I'll take you up on that offer if I can't find someplace else," said Athrun.

It was an hour drive from the Athha estate to the location that had been booked for the reception- a sharp contrast from minimal driving distances on PLANT. The location had a large indoor hall, as well as an outside porch like area shaded by tall palm trees and skinny trunked trees with sprawling branches. The same mountain visible from his hotel window was a lot closer to this location, and made the view from the outside area quite scenic.

At the entrance to the reception area, two conspicuous looking men in black suits were setting up walk-through metal detectors, an x-ray machine, and explosive detecting devices. Another man in a suit had a beagle that was sniffing around the reception area.

Kira and Athrun grabbed some boxes out of the back of the car, carrying them into the reception area. The security eyed them as they came in.

"You've got some impressive security," noted Athrun. "Even a bomb dog."

"Don't have much of a choice. Her father is the former PLANT Chairman." said Kira. "Chairman Clyne's political advocates are showing up as well. Clyne's successor, Gilbert Durandal, Ali Kasim, Eileen Canaver, and one or two others. That's already a third of the PLANT supreme council at my wedding. And with the tricky diplomatic relations between Orb and PLANT right now, this is all over the news," he said. "And of course, the camera men that have been randomly showing up around Lacus and I since the engagement was announced. I saw my picture on the front page of some magazine a week or two ago, and I've heard it's worse on PLANT."

"That's probably true," Athrun admitted. "I don't pay attention to magazines, but there's a good amount of stuff to read about you and Lacus on PLANT news websites. By the way, how many people are you expecting for the wedding?" He couldn't help but notice the vast space that was reserved for the reception.

"Around two-hundred," said Kira. "Far, far too many. Chairman Clyne is picking up most of the bill, fortunately."

"What about the ceremony?" Athrun asked.

"That's being held in the church down the road. Don't worry, it's big enough," said Kira. "The security is already setting up at the church as well. I wonder what the congregation thinks of all this. They should be having church services right now."

"Probably overwhelmed," said Athrun.

Kira led Athrun over to a table next the trees where a guy stood on a ladder, hanging lights.

"Hey, I've got more decorations," said Kira to the guy on the ladder.

"More decorations? Your fiancée has me working to death, Yamato" said the guy, climbing down the ladder. Once standing on the ground, he was slightly taller than Kira, with dark hair and skin, but tell-tale grey eyes that suggested gene editing.

"Have you met Athrun?" Kira asked.

The guy turned to Athrun. "I believe I've met you before, but I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Mumtaz Barr," he said, sticking out his hand.

Athrun took it. "Athrun Zala. Nice to meet you." They shook.

"So you're the guy who took off with Cagali, aren't you?" Mumtaz asked.

"Um, yes I am," Athrun replied.

"I knew her from the Archangel," he said.

"Mumtaz was one of our pilots," explained Kira.

"From what I've heard from Cagali, you guys had a pretty close knit group," said Athrun.

"Of course we were. Mobile suit teams have to work together. While I was on the Archangel, I practically spent every waking moment with someone from the group," said Mumtaz.

"True," Athrun agreed.

"Anyways, these are the rest of lights I picked up yesterday," said Kira, pointing to the box on the table.

"Where do you want these?" asked Mumtaz, opening the box.

Kira looked around. "I see you've already gotten the trees over there. Hmm... I suppose I'll have to ask Lacus."

Mumtaz looked into the box, and pulled out a green ball about the size of a grapefruit that appeared to have a face. "What is this thing?" he asked.

"Oh, that- it's something I was meaning to show to Lacus. It's a robotic toy I've been working on," said Athrun. "She likes this type of thing. I was thinking of marketing it to a toy company next year."

"What's it do?" Mumtaz asked.

Athrun grinned. In his opinion, the toy's design was a work of genius. Rather than brag, he took the toy from Mumtaz. "Let me show you," he said, and then he dropped it.

Both Kira and Mumtaz jolted in surprise, lunging to catch the toy. They weren't quick enough, and the green ball hit the ground. It bounced back up. Its red dot eyes lighting up, two ear-like slits on top of the ball opening and flapping like wings. "_Good morning_!" it said in a robotic, but extremely cute voice. It proceeded to roll around on the ground.

"The internal mechanisms allow it to roll and bounces by itself- it can get up to 150 cm high- and it extends its arms and legs. It's programmed to recognize faces and voices, follow people around, and it responds to certain words and phrases."

"That toy recognizes faces?"asked Kira taking a closer look at the green ball.

"It remembers up to fifteen people," said Athrun. "But the artificial intelligence programming is still a work in progress."

"Looks pretty good to me," said Kira. "How did you program it to recognize faces?"

"Lots and lots of spare time on a ZAFT ship," said Athrun. The toy was now rolling in circles around Kira's legs, saying, "_Haro, haro, haro_!"

"It talks too?" asked Kira. "What's it saying?"

"It's supposed to be saying 'hello'. That's one of the kinks I haven't gotten out yet. I can't get this thing to distinguish between R and L."

"That shouldn't be too hard to figure out," said Kira.

Mumtaz looked at the top with interest. "Can it learn words?" he asked.

"Yes it can, tell it a new word slowly, and it will repeat it." said Athrun. "Up to one hundred words."

Mumtaz knelt down to take a closer look at the toy."Haro!" he called out to the green, and told it a string of expletives. The ball rolled to the right slightly in makeshift curiosity. Mumtaz repeated the new words.

"_Oooooh_!" said the toy, and then jumped up in excitement. "_Potty mouth! Potty mouth_!" exclaimed the toy.

"Since this is going to be marketed to children, I've already taken into account people with your sense of humor," informed Athrun.

"_Potty potty potty potty mouth!"_

"I can't introduce this to a toy company with it using the language some of my friends find amusing. It recognizes all curse words and will not repeat them," informed Athrun.

Momentarily, Mumtaz looked disappointed, then he looked back to the toy, and tried teaching it a different word.

"_Potty mouth!" _said the toy.

Kira laughed. "You shouldn't be teaching it those words anyways," he said. Mumtaz tried again regardless.

"What do you think?" asked Athrun.

Kira tilted his head."Well, it's interesting, and it's cute..."

"But annoying." Mumtaz finished.

"Yeah, that thing will get annoying after a few minutes, it talks too much," said Kira.

Athrun looked at the toy, which was now rolling around underneath his feet. "I see," he made a mental note to tone down the little green ball's annoyance factor.

Rather than mess with the toy, there was lots to be done. Athrun spent the morning hanging lights- not only in the trees, but from the ceiling inside- strategically arranging and setting tables, and carrying in more and more decorations. Inside the reception area, they set up a large Christmas tree, which Lacus and chubby middle-aged woman decorated with white bows and sparkling white ornaments. On the tables, the entry way, the cake display, bits and pieces of Christmas colors and decorations were mixed in. In the afternoon, they descended on the church, thoroughly adorning the chapel with flowers of all kinds, in accordance to Lacus's instructions.

Decorating was finished around seven that evening, and then the group working went out to dinner. Athrun excused himself from the event, and took a taxi back to the hotel, not wanting to leave Cagali to fend for herself for dinner.

It wasn't until he arrived back at the hotel, that he realized that he had left his talking ball at the reception area. He decided to go looking for it tomorrow. Contrary to his expectations, he beat Cagali back. It was more than two hours before she came back.

She knocked on his hotel room when she got back. She was carrying a dress wrapped in plastic. Her face was solemn, her eyes droopy. "I finally got him to let me go," she told Athrun. "I'm exhausted."

"Your father can't be that bad, can he?" asked Athrun.

"He tells me everything that's wrong with my life, and how getting involved in the company will make it better," she said. "Hours and hours of him going on about me going up to PLANT. I know how it is better than he does, he's never been there," she said sourly.

"Your father has a point, you don't really belong on PLANT," said Athrun.

"Where I don't belong is at that house," replied Cagali. Athrun jumped a little at the menace in her voice. "He thinks something terrible is going to happen to me if I go back. Whatever might happen has already happened. And it's my life not his. I'm not even his biological daughter, why should he bother me so much?"

Athrun couldn't help but smile, then laugh.

"What's funny?" she demanded.

"I don't think I've seen you this lively and riled up since I came to see you in Orb that day when it was raining," said Athrun.

"That man pisses me off," said Cagali.

"I can tell. Are you hungry?" he asked.

"No. I had dinner at the house. Have you not eaten yet?" she asked.

"I was waiting for you."

She took a deep breath. "We could get street food," she suggested. "Not too far from here, there's a hot vender, a taco stand, and a Korean couple who sells the most delicious fire _toppoki._"

"What's that?" asked Athrun.

"You'd have to taste it to see," she said.

That night, he heard Cagali laugh for the first time in what felt like ages- when he tried a bite of her favorite fire _toppoki. _He couldn't help but feel warm inside- partly from hearing her laugh, mostly from the burning sensation that assaulted his lips and mouth, and continued to burn in his esophagus and stomach a few hours later.

Thus passed the second day in Orb.

.

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><p>(reminds readers about survey)<p>

Like this story? **REVIEW**!

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	3. Chapter 3

AN: So much inconsequential crap to get through before the plot really takes off! Weddings are so boring.

I'm promising to update this thing at least once a month- at the end of the month, 27~31 range. (Unless no one reviews, then I won't bother writing anymore)... So that said, I'm posting this chapter way sooner than I originally intended. I feel like I'm going to regret this later if I can't get chapter 4 ready by the end of the month. (I think it'll be ready... )

I'm leaving the survey for what characters survive/not up for til the next update. Link is on my profile. If you haven't taken it, go take it **NOW** before reading any further~

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><p>December 23, 71<br>ZAFT Protectorate Territory, Orb Union, Onogoro Suburb

"The bride and groom have arrived! Give a warm welcome to Mr. and Mrs. Yamato!" came the announcement of the arrival of the bride and groom at the reception.

Athrun clapped politely. From where he stood, he was able to catch a quick glimpse of the newlywed couple. Kira and Lacus beamed at the welcoming applause. As to be expected of the pink princess, Lacus was stunning in her white dress, and likewise, Kira looked regal in a white tux. A short, plump woman returned baby Imber to her parents. And then the crowd shifted, hiding them from view.

The sheer size of the crowd at the wedding was over whelming. How all of the guests had been able to fit into the chapel half an hour ago was a mystery to Athrun. How a wedding party big enough for every friend, business partner, co-worker, and third-cousin once removed to attend was put together was beyond his comprehension.

Athrun scanned the crowd for Cagali. He hadn't seen Cagali since they had breakfast together this morning. It was looking like it might be a bit difficult to find her in this crowd. With the prominent position the wedding had in PLANT news, they figured it was for the best to come separately and pretend to barely know each other. Cagali was here to see her brother get married, and Athrun had been invited as a friend of Lacus's. Of course, Lacus was clearly the focus of attention at the wedding, but they didn't want to arouse suspicion. The world didn't know that the groom's Natural sister was a slave on PLANT. Never-the-less, Athrun scanned the crowd for the sight of the afore mentioned Natural Slave.

His thoughts interrupted by one of Lacus's father's staff members, a mutual friend of Chairman Clyne and his late father. "Athrun Zala? I haven't seen you in a few years. How have you been?" the man asked.

Athrun turned to the man, wasting a few minutes of his time in idle chatter. Ask the same questions, get the same answers, have the same questions asked to himself in return. Mingling at parties was one thing fairly high on Athrun's list of things he preferred to avoid, but he'd had enough practice at political banter while his parents were still alive to know how to act.

He could only imagine what Cagali was doing now. Considering her regular anti-social behavior on PLANT for the past few months, he figured Cagali had found a lonely, dark corner somewhere to sit and sulk. When the man left to talk to someone else, Athrun glanced around the room for any dark corners she might be hiding in.

Again, he was interrupted, this time by one of Lacus's friends from PLANT. "Athrun, I had no idea you were coming to the wedding," she said.

"Yes, Lacus invited me," Athrun responded automatically.

The girl insisted that he join a group of Lacus's friends who had traveled from PLANT to see the wedding, sitting at a table on the other side of the room. Soon thereafter, dinner was served, toasts were made. Mumtaz, who had deemed it appropriate to wear a neon yellow suit to his friend's wedding, gave a speech in which he told an embarrassing story about Kira from when they were in training.

One event flowed into another. The cake was cut, pictures were taken, more pictures were taken, and the guests were eventually directed outside, where a dance area had been set up. The sun had begun to set, and the lights that Athrun had spent hours hanging in the trees the day before flickered pleasantly, adding a bit of Christmas festivity to the event.

Music came on outside, and the bride and groom danced together for the first song, followed by a father daughter dance. Lacus and Chairman Clyne waltzed slowly as the guests contemplated the sentimentality of the scene. And then there was Kira, looking like a moron, spinning in a circle tossing Imber up and down till she giggled joyfully, making everyone else watching laugh.

A few minutes later, the dance floor was scattered with guests. Athrun joined in several times, dancing with a couple of Lacus's friends from PLANT, and then the bride herself for a minute, before Kira cut in. Athrun excused himself from the dance floor and instead opted to sit and watch from the side.

He was only sitting for a few minutes before he noticed the fellow in the obnoxious yellow suit waving from the other side of the dance floor. When Athrun's eyes focused on Mumtaz, he turned to a friend who handed him a familiar green ball. Mumtaz looked directly at Athrun and raised the green ball over his head and shook it in a way that said 'don't you want it back?'

'Ah, so Mumtaz found it,' thought Athrun. He had almost forgotten about the toy he had left here yesterday. He stood up and headed over in that general direction. Rather than maneuver his way through the crowds on the dance floor, Athrun took a round-a-bout route, walking around the crowded area to retrieve his talking green ball.

Then he spotted Cagali. Actually, Athrun had to do a double take to make sure the person he was looking at was actually her. No wonder he hadn't found her earlier. She was wearing the dress that she had brought from her father's house. The soft green colored fabric clung to her figure in all the right places, and she wore long white gloves that came up past her elbows, effectively hiding the number tattooed on left her arm. She had fixed her hair in a way that left her neck exposed, and the back of the dress dipped slightly, allowing Athrun a teasing glimpse at her figure.

For a moment, Athrun stood where he was and stared. His original intent to retrieve the toy vanished from his mind entirely.

She wasn't hiding in the dark corner where had expected to find her, but she was far from the center of the celebrations, sitting alone at a table, sipping a glass of punch. There were guests scattered here and there, but Cagali had strategically found a place to sit away from all of them. She was gazing off at something in the distance, not even paying attention to the party. Athrun headed over to Cagali.

She turned to look at him as he approached. Her eyes caught his and whatever he had intended to say slipped his mind. She was even wearing make-up; Athrun had never seen her wear so much as tinted chap stick on PLANT, but now her lips were colored bronze with lipstick, her skin had been made flawless, and her eyes were accentuated with brown eye shadow and mascara.

"You look nice in a tux," she said. "I've never seen you dressed up before. It suits you."

He blinked once, realizing that she had been the one to compliment him, not the other way around. "You look amazing in that dress," he said. "I thought you were pretty before but I had no idea... And where did you get make up? I know you don't have any on PLANT."

A slight red tint formed in her cheeks. "I picked it up from my father's house, along with the dress. I haven't worn any of this in several years, but it's appropriate for the occasion, isn't it? With all the officials from PALNT here, I can't make Kira look bad. I am his sister."

"Yes, but it's not appropriate for you to be prettier than the bride," Athrun said.

Her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. "Don't worry, Lacus is beautiful, much more so than me."

"I dunno about that," said Athrun, smiling. "I'm sure you've gotten compliments all evening."

"You should have heard what Kira said," said Cagali, disdainfully.

"What did Kira say?" Athrun asked.

"Wow, Cagali, you're a girl?" Cagali feigned surprise. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Athrun couldn't help but laugh. "I wouldn't take it personally. You don't exactly dress up often either," said Athrun."Maybe he can't imagine his sister as a member of the opposite sex. I think you look gorgeous."

"Thanks"

Athrun sat down beside her. "Do you remember what I told you this morning?"

"What?"

"About trying to act pleasant at the wedding?" Athrun prompted. "Instead of the way you act on PLANT half the time, sulking alone in your room."

"I can only stand crowds of people for so long. It's been four hours," said Cagali. "I'm taking a break."

"I can't blame you for that. How long have you been over here?" he asked.

"Since the dance started," she said.

"That was almost half an hour ago. You're being anti-social," said Athrun. He stood up and offered her his hand. "Come dance with me."

She raised her eyebrows, looking at the hand held out in front of her."Are you forgetting that we're not supposed to know each other?"

"You're not supposed to off sulking," he replied. "And no one will get suspicious of me asking a beautiful girl to dance."

Her eyebrows raised even further up her forehead. She took a sip of punch. "Athrun, that's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth," she said.

"You want cheesy? Roses are red, violets are blue, there's no one I want to dance with more than you," replied Athrun. "Now that is cheesy."

Cagali laughed lightly. "That was pretty bad."

"Would you dance with me?" he asked again, waving his upturned palm in front of her face. She looked at his hand hesitantly. "Do you not know how to dance?" Athrun prompted.

"Of course I know how."

He tilted his head slightly. "Then why not join everyone else? Just for a few minutes, it'll be fun."

Cagali chugged the rest of her drink. "Alright," She agreed, taking Athrun's hand. He couldn't help but smile as he lead her over to the dance area.

They blended in with the rest of the crowd, moving with the music. He guided her around the dance floor, one hand on her waist, the other holding her hand. Her eyes drifted in focus. Over his shoulder, to the side, back to focus on him.

"What do you think of the wedding?" asked Athrun.

"Exhausting," she said.

"What's about this exhausting?" he said.

"Hoards of people, dressing up, talking, being polite to everyone," said Cagali.

"I can understand you. I don't like big events like this either, but it's best to just try to enjoy yourself. Don't you think it's been put together well?"

"I suppose so," she said.

"Kira and Lacus got a great location, nice decorations, good food- I'd say it's a success as far as parties go. They even managed to get you in a dress," Athrun teased her. "I'm sure you've heard it a dozen times over again, but you really are gorgeous."

Cagali's cheeks tinted red. "Thanks."

Athrun took a step back from her and raised up her arm. She looked at him quizzically. "Spin," he said.

She turned in a circle, and he pulled her back next to him again. "When am I going to have another chance to dance with you?" Athrun asked.

"Hopefully not for a long time," said Cagali. "Parties like these aren't my favorite."

"If it meant dancing with you, I wouldn't mind going to parties like this on a regular basis," said Athrun. "It's only scheduled to last for another hour. If you're bored otherwise, why not dance with me till then?"

Cagali shook her head. "Thanks, but we can't exactly do that, people would notice. It'll cause problems."

"Can you relax about us being seen together for a few minutes?"

"A few minutes is fine but an hour?" said Cagali.

"There are tons of people here. No one cares," said Athrun.

"You see that man over standing not too far away from Kira?" Cagali tilted her head over her shoulder in the general direction.

Athrun glanced in the direction she had indicated, spotting Kira. There were several candidates for 'man near Kira.' "Which one?"

"On Kira's left. The tall one with long salt-and-pepper hair and beard," she said.

Athrun's eyes fell on the man she described. "I see him," he confirmed.

"That's my father," Cagali said. "He doesn't want me to go back to PLANT, and hates you for keeping me there. He's dying to give you a piece of his mind. It'd be best if he doesn't know who you are."

Athrun made a mental note to avoid Uzumi Nara Athha. "I can't really blame him," said Athrun. "PLANT really isn't a good place for Naturals."

"It's not near as bad as people think," said Cagali.

"That's true. But you can't deny that Earth is much better," said Athrun. "I'm kind of scared that you'll decide to stay here, actually."

"You don't have to worry," said Cagali.

"Do you hate being here that much?" asked Athrun.

"No, but I don't want to stay in Orb" said Cagali.

"When I'm discharged from ZAFT, would you consider it?"

"You want to move to Earth?"

"Someplace where Naturals are treated better. I don't think the use of Natural labor on PLANT is going to get better any time soon. Nicol is already planning on moving to Heliopolis when he's discharged," said Athrun. "Would that be better than Earth?"

"Probably. Honestly, I have a feeling that in Orb- and everywhere on Earth- things are going to be getting worse for Naturals," said Cagali.

"There are almost ten-billion Naturals in the world and only forty million Coordinators. You're in the majority by far. I don't think you have too much to worry about," said Athrun.

Cagali looked at something over Athrun's shoulder. "I think that's my signal to leave," said Cagali.

"What?" asked Athrun.

"Chairman Clyne is watching us," she said. "I really don't want to talk to any PLANT Supreme Council members.

"Former member. Chairman Clyne's term ended just a few weeks ago," said Athrun.

"Same difference. He looks interested in talking to you," she said.

Athrun spun Cagali so that he could see what she saw. Sure enough, Lacus's father waved at him. "I guess you're right," Athrun conceded. He let go of Cagali when the song ended. "Thank you for the dance. I'll go see what he wants."

She bowed politely and excused herself.

Momentarily, Chairman Clyne came and greeted him.

"Athrun, I had no idea that you were in Orb for the wedding," said Chairman Clyne.

"Yes, Lacus sent me an invitation, and I had time off, so I decided to come," said Athrun.

"It's very kind of you to take time out of your busy schedule to come to Earth to attend her wedding," said Chairman Clyne. "Even though the engagement between the two of you didn't work out."

"Well, we've always been friends," said Athrun. At the same time, Athrun wondered whether or not he would have received an invitation if Cagali hadn't been Kira's brother. He figured from the sheer number of people at the event, he probably would have been invited. Had the groom not been Cagali's borhter, whether or not he would have bothered to come was questionable.

"Who was that lovely young lady you were dancing with just before? I don't recognize her," said the former Chairman. "Is she one of Lacus's friends?"

"No, that's Kira's sister, Cagali," said Athrun.

"I see. Ah, Athrun, have you been introduced to Gilbert Durandal?" asked Chairman Clyne.

"No sir, I haven't met him."

"That's a shame. Why don't I introduce you," he said.

Athrun didn't have the chance to either accept or decline the offer before Lacus's father led him away from the dance floor to a table where a single man sat, observing the festivities. A few moments later, Athrun found himself standing in front of the new PLANT Chairman.

"Gilbert, I hope I'm not interrupting you," said Chairman Clyne.

Gilbert Durandal shook his head. "I was simply enjoying watching the dance." His eyes looked to Athrun, clearly not recognizing him.

"I believe you haven't met Athrun Zala," said Chairman Clyne. "Athrun, I'm sure you recognize Chairman Durandal."

Chairman Durandal stood and looked to Athrun. It was the first time that Athrun had seen him in person. The new Chairman had quite a presence. He had none of the cosmetic genetic enhancements that were so common among Coordinators around Athrun's age, but never the less, he hardly looked like a Natural. He was thin and tall, easily taller than Athrun, Chairman Clyne, and the two body guards standing behind him. The Chairman's hair was thick, black and reached all the way to his mid-back.

"Patrick Zala's son? It's a pleasure to be of your acquaintance." The Chairman offered his hand.

Athrun took the hand offered him and shook it. Careful to choose the correct words for the situation, Athrun replied with, "It's an honor to meet you, Chairman Durandal."

"Likewise. I only knew your father briefly. He was a very ambitious man. The economic reforms he led managed to stabilize the economy on PLANT, relative to the Earth's. It's a shame to have lost such a brilliant political mind," said the Chairman.

Athrun nodded politely. "Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Chairman. My father put all his efforts into the betterment of PLANT. I can only hope that he would be well remembered."

"Would his son happen to have any political aspirations?" Durandal asked.

"No, sir. I'm afraid I don't have the same ambitions or talents as my father," said Athrun.

Chairman Durandal smiled. "Ah, but your accomplishments as a mobile suit pilot are quite well known. Your success in the Occupation of Victoria and at the Ptolemaeus Lunar Base incident, among others."

"You're too kind, Chairman. We lost a lot of men in those battles. I was lucky to have survived," said Athrun.

"Your team was lucky to have such a brilliant leader, and the PLANTs fortunate to have such dedicated you soldiers fighting for their protection," said Chairman Durandal. "If you don't mind me asking, weren't you originally engaged to Lacus Clyne?"

"Ah, yes, that was the arrangement. It's a shame things didn't work out between the two of them," said Chairman Clyne. "But my daughter is happy, and Kira Yamato is a friendly, bright young man."

"Yes, it's interesting how things work out like this," said Chairman Durandal. "Please, site down." He gestured for Athrun and Chairman Clyne to take seats at the table. They sat.

"Tell me, Athrun, as a ZAFT soldier who has been both to PLANT and to the former EA territories, what do you think of Natural-Coordinator relations here in Orb?" Durandal asked.

"The culture here is different from that on PLANT and in the EA, that is certain. There isn't any of the blatant racism that I've seen in both of those places," said Athrun.

"Just at this wedding, there is quite the mix between Coordinators and Naturals. I think it's quite something," said Chairman Clyne. "Even mixed in families. For example, my new son in law has Naturals parents and a Natural sister."

"I can't imagine that such relations would ever be possible on PLANT," said Athrun. "With the treatment Natural Slaves receive on PLANT."

"Is that so?" said Chairman Durandal. "I believe the PLANTs are headed in a positive direction on that matter. Athrun, are you aware that one of the most influential voting groups in my election this year was the Natural Exploitation Termination Advocates?"

"I'm aware that they've gaining popularity, especially following the end of the war," said Athrun. "I've got a friend who is a big supporter. While I hold nothing against Naturals, I'm afraid that I'm not a supporter of NExTA myself."

"Is that so? There have been supporters of NExTA from both the pro-Coordinator and pro-Natural ends of the spectrum," said Chairman Clyne. "Of course, your father lead one of the Supreme Council resolutions that expanded the use of Natural Slaves on PLANT, quite against NExTA's philosophy. I suppose you follow the same views as your father?"

"Ah yes, the number of Naturals transported to PLANT was the highest it had ever been under Chairman Zala. While it may have been an appropriate action to take several years ago, I believe now that continuing importing Natural labor is counter intuitive," said Chairman Durandal. "As I'm sure you're aware, NExTA is pressing for a way for all transport of Naturals from Earth to come to a halt within the next few years, as well as end the purchase of Naturals by PLANT citizens who do not have legitimate use for their labor. This whole market has gotten off balance. Some people have been using Naturals for jobs that a Coordinators seek out, and are easily capable of doing better," said Durandal.

"Yes, it's causing a bit of commotion on PLANT," said Chairman Clyne. "I heard a case of Naturals being bought for a business and trained to read and analyze computer software."

"I heard of that too," said Athrun. "I don't see a problem with that. They can do what they want with the Naturals that they own."

"Just as Mr. Clyne said, that aspect of the slave trade is unpopular. From the pro-Coordinator standpoint, normally, such well-paying jobs would be allocated to Coordinators. PLANT citizens are being put out of work for the sake of cheap, albeit less well performing, labor. There is no doubt that this practice needs to come to an end. We on PLANT do not need to be bringing Naturals up from Earth for any sort of high-level work," said Chairman Durandal.

The chairman gestured with left hand and continued talking. "On the other hand, from the Natural Rights standpoint, this reallocation of labor will stop the demand for Natural labor from growing, and is a step in the direction of stopping the transport of slaves from Earth within a few years. I'm sure you're aware that currently, the end of the slave trade is NExTA's number one goal."

Athrun was not swayed. "Frankly, sir, I believe that if PLANT were to be run by their recommendations, the economic turmoil that would result would be worse than whatever benefits were acquired. Certain businesses that have been relying on Naturals for lesser work will be handicapped," said Athrun. "Not to mention the processes of assuring that each and every Natural isn't doing a job that is thought to be better suited for a Coordinator. On top of that, I am concerned about property rights. NExTA hopes to take Naturals away from owners who aren't using the Naturals in the designated labor fields."

"Yes, that is a common complaint from Natural owners. Of course, property rights are held higher than the need to end the flow of Natural labor onto the PLANTs. But the Supreme Council support's NExTA's proposition for licensing in who is and is not able to purchase Naturals. In the wake of the end of the war, and the downsizing of ZAFT, the number of unemployed on PLANT has increased substantially, and with it, the support of such reforms."

"Even if these reforms are passed, I believe the general dislike of Naturals among the PLANT population will not improve overnight," said Athrun. "Nor will it stop the Naturals from hating the Coordinators. You seem to be ignoring NExTA's push for improvements in Natural rights. Considering public safety, do you believe allowing Naturals more freedom is appropriate?"

"You seem well versed in the opinions of my political opponents," said Chairman Durandal. "Are you fearful of the Naturals here in Orb being allowed freedom?"

"As far as I can see, in this country, Naturals and Coordinators mutually respect each other. It isn't a issue. However, what works for one country may not work for another," said Athrun.

"I never would have guessed that you felt that way, considering how well you were getting along with Kira's sister," said Chairman Clyne. "She is a Natural."

Athrun felt a bit of blood rise to his cheeks. Had he been that see through? "Yes, I know. Like I said, Orb and PLANT are different. What works here won't work in the former EA territories or on PLANT. Anyone's who has had to fight against Naturals would agree with me," said Athrun.

"Come now, this is no place to be discussing politics. I've just retired from that position," said Chairman Clyne.

At that point, Athrun heard something bump into the back of his chair. He looked down. A green ball with blinking red eyes looked up at him. Ah- he'd completely forgotten about the toy. Athrun looked across the reception area, where he saw Mumtaz wave, and then disappear into the crowd.

Athrun leaned down to pick it up. "_Haro Athrun! Mr. Roripo!" _

He was about to turn it off when Chairman Clyne asked, "What's that, Athrun."

"This is a toy I've designed, sort of a hobby," Athrun explained. "I was thinking of marketing it next fall, but I haven't quite worked out the talking aspects. It can learn a few words."

"Really? What's it saying now?" asked Chairman Durandal.

"_Roripop!_" said the toy.

Athrun frowned in though. "I have no idea. It must have misheard a word."

"You've always had a knack for that sort of thing. I can see that becoming a popular toy," said Chairman Clyne.

The toy flapped its ears in Athrun's hands. Its eyes looked up towards Athrun and blinked on and off. " Athrun wanna fe-ratio!" it said.

'Huh?' Athrun wondered. The toy bounced out of his hands and spun around in midair.

"Athrun wanna fe-ratio!" it repeated. Chairman Clyne and Chairman Durandal looked at the toy with curiosity.

For half a second, Athrun contemplated the toy's new words. Fe-ratio? Maybe another 'R' and 'L' mix up? And then comprehension hit like bulldozer. His eyes widened in horror. He had not thought to block that word out of the toys vocabulary.

Athrun jumped out of his chair and snatched at the toy, mid bounce. Daftly, it dodged Athrun's hands, singing, "Mr. Roripop! Roripop!" The toy hit the ground and bounced off.

"Excuse me." Athrun gave quick apology to the two politicians and dashed after the toy.

It rolled and bounced its way to the other side of the reception area, slipping under the legs of a few guests before hiding under a few chairs. Athrun hounded in on the toy, getting on his knees to catch it.

"_Haro, Athrun! Are you fine? So am I!_" it said, joyfully.

"You're not gunna be fine when I get a hold of you," Athrun muttered.

"_Athrun wanna fe-ratio! That's no good!_" the toy squeaked. Thank goodness it couldn't get the R and L sound straight. Hopefully no one else realized what it was saying. Athrun reached for the toy. It rolled out from underneath the chairs. "_Let's pray tag!_" it said, bouncing away till it ended up at Lacus's feet.

Lacus was holding the baby, but handed her over to Kira to pick up the toy. She observed the green ball with curiosity, and then showed it to Imber, who swatted at it with her hands. Athrun was over beside them in seconds.

"_Mr. Roripop wanna fe-_" Athrun grabbed the toy out of Lacus's hands, ripped the top off the toy and yanked out the artificial intelligence chip before it could finish its sentence. The eyes stopped blinking.

"Athrun! What would you do that for!" said Lacus.

"As of now, this is the only reset method," he apologized, a bit of anger laced in his voice. "Someone seems to have taught this little guy a few words he shouldn't know."

The baby started crying. "Look at this, Athrun, you've made Imber cry," said Lacus. "

"Here, it's reset anyways." said Athrun. He put the chip back in. As soon as he did so, the toy let out a stream of expletives that Athrun had specifically programmed it not to say.

"I don't think it's reset," observed Kira.

Athrun pulled out the chip and put it in his pocket. He'd have to fix this later. "Where is Mumtaz, that _moron_," said Athrun, his teeth grinding.

* * *

><p>December 22, CE 71<br>ZAFT Controlled Territory, North America, Washington D.C.

"What can I get for you two?" said the restaurant owner.

"Steak," said the customer. The strange customers he got these days. The boy sitting in front of him was a bit too androgynous for the owner's taste. He looked to be in his late teens and his well-kept blonde hair fell just past his shoulders. "And he'll have a ham sandwich," he said, gesturing to the Asian boy of the same age sitting across from him. The same as he had done when the restaurant owner took their drink order, his friend looked away from him as soon as he had walked up. Perhaps the boy couldn't speak English.

"You don't seem to have many customers today," said the blonde boy.

The owner gestured to the TV mounted on the wall. "No one wants to see the execution. You do know there's an execution today, right?"

The blonde boy nodded. ZAFT had control of the digital network, and every television and computer in the territory would come to life to show the execution of the former Earth Alliance official. On these days, most everyone made an effort to be as far away from a television as possible. It was almost noon, but the normally busy restaurant only had three patrons. The two boys, and a fat middle-age woman sitting alone.

"Feel free to go outside when it comes on," said the owner, retreating to the back of the restaurant.

"I don't know why you wanted to watch it, but I'm always up for steak," said the blonde boy. "The meat on Earth sure is better than it is on PLANT."

"I just want to see if it's any different than the ones they show on the base," said the Asian boy. He looked back to his friend, the reason of his diverted gaze evident.

"You really should get used to contacts if you want to leave base," said the blonde. For Rey, it wasn't a problem. You couldn't tell just by looking him, but with Shinn? "Red eyes stick out more than any other color. It's obvious you're a Coordinator."

"You try putting a piece of plastic in your eye," said Shinn.

Rey shrugged. "Whatever you say, at least wear sunglasses. You never know when you're going to meet a Blue Cosmos vigilante. Even if this ZAFT is controlled territory now, it IS the former capital of the Atlantic Federation."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Shinn sipping his drink.

"You know, I kinda wanted to stay at Lunamaria's Lacus Clyne wedding party, not watch the execution," said Rey.

"I was getting bored," said Shinn. "The wedding's already over. They were just showing bits of the reception." In truth, he wanted to stay and watch more than he cared to admit. Seeing his fellow Orb soldiers at the wedding brought up strong feelings of nostalgia. Yamato, of course, was the on the screen more than the others, being the one getting married, but he had seen many of the others at the wedding too. Manuel and Lloyd both gave toasts to the newlywed couple, and he caught a glimpse of Captain Ramius and Lt. Captain Waltfeld dancing. Mumtaz was easy to spot- he had worn a yellow suit. Surprisingly, even Cagali was there. Last time he saw her, she said something along the lines of never wanting to return to Earth.

"You said you knew the guy she's marrying," said Rey.

"Yeah. He was an Orb pilot too," said Shinn.

"Are all the Orb pilots as good as you?" asked Rey. "Jumping right up to Red Coat status. I had to work hard to get my rank."

"Training in Orb is intense. We're all at your red-coat level," said Shinn.

"I'm glad we don't have to fight against them anymore," Rey said. "You know, I wonder about you sometimes. I know you probably don't care about Lacus, since you're from Orb, but missing your friend's wedding to see the execution?" said Rey.

"Don't know when there will be another one," said Shinn. The former Orb soldier wanted to see the unedited version of the execution. On the base, they didn't actually show the bullets fire or hit.

It wasn't until after they got their food that the TV whizzed to life. Rey was not too interested in watching, but Shinn looked on in interest. The prisoner, a ghost of a man with thinning, graying hair, was brought to the stage and made to kneel. His hands were handcuffed to a bar behind him, so that he couldn't move.

"If we could only get these guys out into the open, just for a little while, they'd die of S3. None of them are vaccinated," said Rey.

-Captain William Sutherland of the Atlantic Federation. Guilty of ordering 10,000 murders of Coordinators in the United States of South America...- The announcer on the television read the charges brought against the man on the screen. Shinn didn't look away.

"But as of now, we really have no idea how to weed them out. Crazy that ZAFT has hardly any luck catching these guys but..." Rey continued.

-... A lead conspirator in the destruction of Junius Seven, responsible for the death of over 200,000 PLANT civilians, and in the death of over one million Naturals, citizens of the Atlantic Federation in...-

"The bounty hunters are doing a good job of catching them," Rey finished. "It says something, how fast the Naturals will turn their former leaders over to their death once a high price is put on their heads."

"I'd kill any one of those criminals without any compensation," said Shinn.

-... will be here by executed by firing squad...-

The camera zoomed in on the face of the Earth Alliance leader, his fear leaking through. The over twenty shots were fired, one by one. The shot his legs first, then his and he screamed out in pain. His blood soaked into his clothes. Then they moved up to his stomach, then his shoulders and arms. More screams. Finally, a bullet found its way to his head.

"Are you satisfied? Was it bloody enough for you?" asked Rey.

"No. It's as I expected. That's nothing compared to what Blue Cosmos did to my parents," said Shinn. He looked to the restaurant wall where ZAFT's 100 most wanted poster hung. Number 30, William Sutherland, was already marked with a black 'X.' However, he was only one of seventeen that had already been caught. "It I catch one of them, they'll suffer much worse than a ZAFT firing squad," said Shinn.

"You couldn't do it," said Rey.

Red eyes read the names and memorized the faces on the list.

Number One, Eli Djibril. 250,000 PLANT Credit Reward.

Number Two, Murata Azrael. 250,000 PLANT Credit Reward.

Number Three, Unato Ema Seiran, Number Four Gerolf Clifton...Number Ninety-Eight, Ian Lee, Number Ninety-Nine, Mwu La Flaga, Number One Hundred, Gerald Garcia.

"Watch me," said Shinn.

* * *

><p>AN: What do you think of NExTA?<p>

The two scenes take place at approximately the same time. However, with the time difference, the dates are different.

Like the story? **REVIEW!  
><strong>still contemplating whether you like it enough to review?  
>If you leave me a signed review, (or another way to contact you) I'll send you a preview of the next chapter ^_^<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

AN: The results of the survey:

Of the main protagonists, Cagali was voted to survive! (no surprise there) Athrun came up next, and he appeared in the free response section several times. Not too many people seem keen on keeping Shinn and Kira.

With the secondary character survival, everyone seems to have a soft spot for babies. Kira and Lacus's baby is the number one wanted-to-survive character, followed by Yzak.

I was a bit surprised by the results in which character should die. Kira got the most votes. Sorry, but I have no plans to kill Kira. But I also have no plans to portray him as god-like, as he is in Destiny.

Surviving Antagonist? Auel followed by Le Crueset.

Antagonists to suffer a horrible death? Lord Djibril! followed by Unato Ema Seiran. Neither of these characters are major, but I'll be sure to have them show up just long enough to get decapitated, have their limbs ripped off, be beaten to a bloody pulp, or suffer some other horrible fate.

* * *

><p>February 14, CE 69<br>PLANT, Aprillius Four

"Would you like for us to get something for you to eat as well, _Mr. Zala, sir_?" The last few words were laced with sarcasm.

Mr. Zala was not amused. "Nicol, would you cut that out already?"

"Every time Tati says Mr. Zala, I picture her talking to your dad. You sound like you're forty. I can't believe you told her to call you that," said Nicol, laughing.

"She's a Natural Slave, even if it's only for two days till she gets on the shuttle back to Earth. She needs to treat Coordinators with respect."

"Of course, Mr. Zala, I'll make sure she's extra polite, sir. Must respect our elders."

"Nicol..." said Athrun, annoyed.

"Yes, Mr. Zala?" The glare sent in Nicol's direction only succeeded in making him laugh. "Okay, okay, I know. Athrun. Do you want us to get you something as well?"

"Sure," he said.

Athrun's green haired friend gestured for the rescued Natural Slave to follow him. They left to get food from one of the street venders.

Athrun's cell phone rang. He looked down at the caller ID: Lenore Zala. As he had been doing for the past few days, he pressed reject. He had decided to postpone the lecture waiting for him until he got home.

His grandmother's possessions would be shipped tomorrow morning. He had inspected the dozens of cardboard boxes and signed the papers. Boxes and boxes... and the old piano. It was about time for his grandmother to move up to PLANT. She was attached to her home on Earth, but with the growing danger, his parents had been insistent that she join them on Junius Seven. She had arrived on the colony last week, and was settling in nicely.

Nicol's Natural's ticket back to Earth had also been bought. Nicol had paid for this himself- P.C. 650. The price was bit more expensive than Athrun had predicted, but hardly a dent in the armor compared to the price needed to buy the Natural girl. She would leave tomorrow morning, and shortly thereafter, he and Nicol would also be returning to their home colony.

That day, Nicol took the girl shopping to get her out of "the hideous auction outfit." She was happy, ridiculously happy to the point of hugging Nicol and laughing and crying at the same time, to have been rescued and on her way back to Earth.

Athrun was surprised that she had no qualms with Nicol being a Coordinator; he thought all Naturals hated Coordinators, but apparently not. She had always known that Nicol was a Coordinator. It wasn't as if he could hide it without dying his green hair a natural color- not impossible if it was only on his head, but like Athrun, all the hair on his body was that color. However, she was surprised to learn that Nicol was from PLANT.

"I had no idea that anyone from the Conservatory was from PLANT. I thought you were from Orb," she said.

"There were several of us from PLANT, but with anti-PLANT sentiments high, we were all advised not to tell anyone," Nicol said.

Athrun had never held a conversation with a Natural before. There were plenty of Naturals on Junius Seven, it being an agricultural PLANT, there were lots of menial jobs to be done. Once a week, a Natural would come clean his house, but Coordinators and Naturals didn't chat. If he spoke to them, it was only to give instructions.

Thus, Athrun felt uncomfortable around the girl. He had instructed her to address her formally, but she and Nicol talked like close friends, and Nicol expected Athrun to speak to her the same way as well. On top of that, in the hotel room they were renting, Nicol gave up his bed for the girl and slept on the floor.

That night, they went out to the park. Nicol and Tati had just come back with food in their hands when the big screen that towered over the recreational area suddenly changed from and advertisement to live news coverage: a large Earth Alliance fleet from the moon was fighting against ZAFT forces, right outside the colonies. An indirect hit, and Aprillius Four shook. The streetlights flickered.

All eyes were focused on the screen. ZAFT was struggling. People were talking, worried.

"Will it be alright?" Tati asked.

"Of course," Nicol assured her.

Athrun wasn't so sure. He had been thoroughly trained at the ZAFT academy. It didn't look like a winning battle to him. He watched mobile suit after mobile suit fall. And then an EA ship charged its beam cannon, fired, and tore its way through the central fulcrum on Junius Seven.

Athrun would never forget watching the colony collapse. He would never forget the feeling of horror and disbelief. The fear that overcame him as the ground beneath him trembled from a second shot.

It wasn't till a few hours later that the fullness of the event sunk in. No home or family to return to. No home. If it had been the next day...

If the attack had occurred only one day later, he and Nicol would have been dead.

* * *

><p>December 24, CE 71<br>ZAFT Protectorate Territory, Orb, Onogoro Suburb

It was the first time in three years that Athrun had the time available to celebrate Christmas. Last year, he was on space patrol, redirecting debris. The year before, he was deployed on Earth. Even if he had been allowed time off those years, he wouldn't have known how to spend it. Family gatherings on Junius Seven were no longer an option. Never the less, he missed the winter holiday.

Since Junius Seven was an agricultural PLANT, the colony adjusted its weather to a growing cycle suitable for the crops. That meant in December, the temperatures dipped below freezing and a thin blanket of white covered the ground, rooftops, tree branches, and the hoods of cars. Strings of colored lights in the trees sparkled at night. Tourists from other colonies would often come to see the lights in the snow. (1)

Now that Athrun finally had time off, he hardly felt like it was Christmas. He and Cagali joined Lacus, Kira, and the baby, of course, at a beach on the other side of the island. The sun glared down, reflecting off the white sands in a way that made it impossible to see without sunglasses. As he had come to expect of Orb, scenery was soothing and beautiful, but easily forgotten in the midst of the sweltering heat. They lit up a grill and had a barbeque lunch, splashed salt water on each other, and ended up telling embarrassing stories about each other. While Lacus managed to recall a tale or two about Athrun, he was grateful that Nicol wasn't around to bring up the real dirt.

After a while, Athrun began to notice the abundance of couples hanging out in the vicinity. The area wasn't crowded, but it seemed like every person he saw was latched onto their significant other. When he pointed it out, Kira reminded him, "Everyone who can get a date gets one on Christmas. That's why you couldn't get a hotel room, remember?"

The concept Christmas being for dates was offsetting to Athrun. Where in the world did that strange idea come from? Athrun couldn't help but feel cheated out of Christmas for the third year in a row, but he enjoyed himself none the less.

By the time they returned to Kira's house, it was almost ten in the evening. Cagali and Athrun gathered their things from the back of the car and took them inside.

"Sorry it's so messy," Lacus was quick to apologize when they stepped inside. "Kira didn't tell me till this morning that the two of you were spending the night here," she said. "We've got all the wedding gifts and my things shipped from PLANT in the other room, and we're in the process of making the spare bedroom into a nursery," Lacus explained. "Would you like to see?"

Athrun and Cagali accepted the offer, and Lacus showed the way. Athrun and Cagali peeked inside the room in question. All of furniture had been removed. The walls were painted pink, and the outlines of various cute animals were sketched on with pencil. "Kira and I are going to paint on the animals next weekend, but for now..." Lacus gestured to the hall that led up to the nursery. "It's a terrible mess."

The contents of the room were lined up in the hall, making it difficult to squeeze through. Most of the things were clearly for Imber. A diaper trash can, a baby's play swing, a stroller- all Lacus's choice color- pink. Imber's crib was lined up against the wall in a way that half-blocked another door. "Sorry, it'll be a bit difficult to get in and out of your room," Lacus apologized to Cagali. "But it's do-able." She demonstrated her skill at reaching around the crib without bumping the crib and opening the door to the room. "I hope you don't mind," she said.

"We're only staying for one night," Cagali said. "I don't mind. This is your house, you can do what you want with the furniture."

"It's your house more than it's mine," said Lacus. "You and Kira own it, not me."

"You're the one living here," replied Cagali.

"You should be here too. Kira keeps going on about how much he wants you back," said Lacus.

"I've already heard it from him," Cagali said, trying to wedge her bag past the crib into her bedroom. "I think I'm going to take a shower and get all the salt off me." Momentarily, the door to the bedroom shut.

"Where am I sleeping?" Athrun asked.

"On the couch, I suppose. Is that alright?" asked Lacus.

"Of course it's fine," he said. Lacus lead him through the kitchen and into the living room. Kira sat on the couch holding Imber, trying to coax her to sleep.

"By the way, did you managed to get the Haro fixed?" asked Lacus.

"The Haro?" asked Athrun.

"That toy you were working on, isn't that it's name? It keeps saying 'Haro'," said Lacus.

"Ah, it's supposed to be saying 'Hello.' The pronunciation is off. I haven't come up with a good name for it yet, actually," said Athrun. (2)

"Why not call it Haro?" she suggested.

"Haro?" Athrun considered the name. It sounded a bit strange to him. "I'll think about it."

"I think its adorable. You should make Haros in all different colors. Red, yellow, blue. I'd like a pink one," said Lacus. "Do you have it with you?"

"Yes, we had to bring everything from the hotel. But it's not fixed yet. I got it to stop swearing, but whenever it sees me, it still, well..." Athrun trailed off.

"Offers Mr. Lollipop a felatio," finished Kira. "I thought it was kind of funny."

"I beg to differ," said Athrun.

"It's hard to understand anyways, and it's not a very common word," said Lacus. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"I can only hope that no one else understood," said Athrun. In particular, he hoped that Lacus's father and Chairman Durandal had been unable to decipher the robot's speech.

"Can I see it?" Lacus asked.

"I'd rather not turn it on until I have a chance to fix it," said Athrun.

"I think it's adorable regardless of what it says," said Lacus.

"Fine," said Athrun. He knelt down and opened his luggage to retrieve the green ball. "If you like it so much, here." He handed it to her.

She dropped the toy to the floor and it bounced to life with its new signature, 'Haro, Mr. Roripop!' Kira laughed where he was sitting. "I'd rather buy one that's not fixed." said Kira. Athrun could do nothing but sigh in defeat.

Kira offered Athrun the use of the master bathroom, and Athrun went to take a shower. When he got out, Lacus and Kira were no longer in the living room.

He went to sit on the couch and looked around the room. There was a small Christmas tree decorated with red and green ornaments; at least that felt like Christmas. The bird cage was still in the corner. A blanket had been draped over the cage so that the parakeet went to sleep. The green ball was on the floor near the bird cage. Judging by its silence when Athrun stepped in the room, as opposed to its favorite vulgar salutation, it was turned off.

The last time he had been at the house, the place had been decorated in pink- most of that was now removed, leaving the room almost completely white. White carpet, walls, cabinets, couch... The room had a very clean feeling with it, except for a line of cardboard boxes stacked up behind the couch, haphazardly piled on top of one another.

Athrun couldn't help but be drawn to the one messy thing in the room. Curiously, he lifted one of the box's top flaps and peered inside. A toaster and a set of cups. He looked in a second box, a teapot and silverware. Wedding gifts, if he was guessing correctly. A third box was full of books, lined up with their spines facing upward. He glanced over the titles, recognizing them. The _Aeneid, Reflections _(a famous book from the Reconstruction War), _Alice in Wonderland, The Republic, Macbeth. _All of these books were required reading in PLANT schools. He glanced at the various titles with familiarity, and pulled _The Republic _from the stack, flipping through the pages.

Stray markings in the book caught his eye. In Lacus's neat print _Have you ever notices how Professor West never stops fiddling with her rings? _was written in the margins.

_YES _was written by a different person. _And she jiggles her change in her pocket. She is so boring I'm going to die. _

The next page boasted an exaggerated doodle of a teacher, labeled as Professor West, shown to be fiddling with the rings on her fingers. Athrun chuckled.

"Found something interesting?" Athrun heard Lacus from behind him. Athrun turned to see Lacus, bringing him blankets and a pillow. Kira was not too far behind her, carrying the baby, who had finally fallen asleep.

"More like snooping," Kira said.

"Just that you clearly didn't find Plato very interesting," he said, showing her the book. "Did you draw this picture?"

Lacus looked at the book and laughed. "Oh, you've found my books that my father shipped from PLANT. I must have drawn that. That class was incredibly boring, but I thought Plato had some interesting points, actually," replied Lacus. "Do you remember reading Plato?" she asked.

"I don't think I ever read _The_ _Republic_, just a summary," said Athrun.

"That's a shame. I really liked his idea of classifying people by their abilities rather than by whatever family they were born into or their gender, far ahead of his time," she said. "Almost like feminist in Ancient Greece."

"I can hardly imagine any ancient Greeks promoting women's rights," said Athrun.

"He acknowledged that there would be women as capable as men, and that they should be put to good use." said Lacus.

"I didn't like his idea of a perfect Republic," Kira said. "Plato seemed to think that his Philosopher Kings would have enough knowledge and wisdom and compassion to rule over others and make all decisions for them. Not to mention, he completely disregarded relationships and family. I don't think he understood what it means to be human."

"It's only theoretical," said Athrun. "People like the Philosopher Kings don't actually exist, but if they did, I'm sure they'd be great leaders."

Kira shrugged. "If you wanna read ancient books, Harry Potter is much more interesting. I'm putting her to bed," he nodded towards the baby.

"Feel free to read any of the books. Are sure you'll be fine on the couch for tonight?" said Lacus.

"The couch is fine. I think Cagali has it worse off, the baby right outside her door," said Athrun. "Even if she said it's fine, you probably should have moved the crib away from her room."

"Imber has slept all night for the past three days," said Kira, brightly. "I don't think it'll be a problem."

* * *

><p>December 25, CE 71<br>ZAFT Protectorate Territory, Orb, Onogoro Suburb

The child was awake at one in the morning, and with a loud screech, she made certain that everyone else in the house was awake as well. Lacus got Imber back to sleep with fifteen minutes. She was awake again at three-thirty, at five-fifteen and at six-ten. By the fourth time Athrun had been woken up by the screeching, he found it difficult to fall back asleep, so he looked into the pile of books and pulled out the Republic again, opening it to the beginning. Plato set about answering the question of 'what is justice' - or rather refuting every suggested definition of 'justice' that one could think of in the most loquacious, circuitous fashion so that Athrun quickly found himself drifting back to sleep... until he came across another one of Lacus's illustrations. Once again, Professor West was the subject of another caricatures, shown dressed up like an ancient Greek, her face contorted, clearly thinking too hard about justice. Professor West had one hand on her chin and the other hand was fiddling with her rings.

Around seven, Athrun heard Cagali rummaging in the kitchen for something to drink, and decided that he might as well get up. "Merry Christmas," he greeted her in the kitchen.

She tilted her head to the side. "I thought that was yesterday, all the couples walking around."

Athrun didn't know whether to find her comment humorous or weird. "You don't know what day Christmas is? Yesterday was Christmas Eve, which makes today Christmas."

She thought about for a moment. "I suppose so. Merry Christmas. I guess you couldn't sleep either?" she asked.

Athrun nodded. "Yeah. Is the baby the reason why you didn't want to stay here?"

"I just don't want to be around Kira too much," she said.

"Still?"

"Things between me and him will never be the same," she said. "We're staying somewhere else tonight, right?"

"Don't worry, we have rooms back at the hotel," Athrun assured her. "And then it's back to PLANT tomorrow morning."

"Since it's our last day in Orb, is there anything you want to do?" Cagali asked.

"Don't you normally do something for Christmas?" asked Athrun. "Like a family meal or something?"

"I've never done anything for Christmas. It's just a normal day," she opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. "You want some orange juice?"

"Sure," Athrun agreed, but couldn't help but feel disappointed. He had time off for the holiday, and now he was told that Christmas was non-existent. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen much of any Christmas decorations in Onogoro. "Since you don't do anything for Christmas, I might as well give you your present now," he said.

Cagali, who had been pouring a glass of orange juice, turned her head to him sharply. "You got me a Christmas present?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"Of course," he said. "I got it a few weeks ago on PLANT and brought it with me. Something odd about that?"

She looked back to the orange juice sharply, hesitating to fill the next glass. "I... I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised."

"I'll go get it," said Athrun. He returned to the living room to dig Cagali's gift out of his bag. A moment later, he sat down at the kitchen table, and put two plastic bags on the table. "I didn't get around to wrapping your gifts. I just left them in the shopping bags," he admitted.

She put a glass of orange juice in front of him and sat across from him. He pushed the two bags her way. The presents were nothing special. He didn't think she would appreciate it if he gave her something romantic or expensive, even though he had considered it.

Slowly, she peaked inside one of the bags and pulled out its contents. "Lemon scented candle. You would know the smell I like. Thank you," she said, putting it back inside.

"There's another one," said Athrun pointing to the other bag.

"Another candle?" Cagali asked.

"Look and see," said Athrun.

She looked in the other bag and her eyes widened with surprise. "Pickled Habenero Green Beans! Where in the world did you find these? These are next to impossible to find on Orb, and I've never seen them on PLANT."

"I went looking in the right places," he said. "Don't try to share them with me, though, I'd rather not have my tongue burn for days."

"Thank you," she said again. Her cheeks turned slightly red. "I'm sorry; I don't have anything for you."

Athrun shrugged. "I didn't expect you to. Naturals can't really go Christmas shopping on PLANT."

And then they heard the baby was crying again. Both Athrun and Cagali turned their head in the direction of the noise. "Your niece really doesn't like sleeping," said Athrun.

Quickly, Cagali grabbed the presents from Athrun and stood up. "I'll put these in my bag and check on the baby," she said and left. Athrun finished drinking his orange juice and wondered back over to the coach.

Lacus came wondering out of the master bedroom, looking sleep deprived. "Imber hasn't been crying all night like this in ages," she said.

"Cagali just went to check on her," said Athrun.

"She doesn't know how to take care of a baby," said Lacus.

"It's not that hard, is it?" asked Athrun. As if to prove his point, the crying stopped.

"I guess not," said Lacus, and sighed. She looked at a clock hanging on the wall. "Already morning... I guess it's pointless to try to go back to sleep now."

"You have plans?"

"I'm meeting my father in two hours. We're having a Christmas brunch," said Lacus.

"Is Kira going too?" asked Athrun.

"No, he has work," said Lacus.

"On Christmas?"

"Christmas Day isn't really celebrated here, just Christmas Eve, and it's only for couples," she said. Athrun sighed, to which Lacus laughed lightly. "You and I had the same reaction. I got something for you and Cagali, though. I can't forget Christmas even if it's just another day in Orb," she said.

"I have something for you and Kira as well," said Athrun. Once again, Athrun pulled a plastic-bag-wrapped present from his suitcase and tossed it to Lacus. She looked at the present and thanked him.

"I guess I'd better wake Kira up or he'll be late for work," she said and returned to the bedroom.

Kira stumbled out of the bedroom a few minutes later, looking thoroughly sleep deprived.

"Sleep well?" asked Athrun.

"Hardly, but oh well," said Kira. "I'll need an extra dose of caffeine to stay awake today."

"That's the life of new parents, huh?" said Athrun.

"Imber didn't keep me up, I just woke up with a horrible headache. It's gone now but..." he yawned, "it's gunna be a long day."

"I can sympathize," said Athrun. He pulled out the gift he bought for Kira from his bag and held it out for him to take. "I got something for you," he said.

"What's that?" asked Kira.

"A Christmas present," Athrun replied.

Kira's eyes widened in surprise. "A _what_?"

"Today's Christmas isn't it?"

Kira looked between Athrun and the object that he was offering with apprehension and confusion. "Shouldn't you be giving that to my sister?"

"I already gave her something; this is for you," said Athrun.

For a second longer, Kira looked confused, and then suddenly his expression changed from confusion to revelation. "Oh! That's right, Lacus said they give presents to anyone on PLANT," he said brightly.

Now Athrun was confused. "You don't exchange presents in Orb?"

"_No_, of course not" Kira shook his head and waved his arms, indicating the negative. "At least not like you do on PLANT. A Christmas present is a love confession."

"Huh?"

"Christmas is for couples. You saw all the sappy couples yesterday, remember?" said Kira. "Only couples exchange presents, or sometimes people give the person they really like a present as a love confession."

It took Athrun a second to process the idea before Cagali's reaction to receiving a Christmas present popped up in his mind. Her surprise followed by hesitant acceptance.

"Is it always a love confession?" Athrun asked.

"Always.

"What about something small and inexpensive?" Athrun asked. "Still a love confession?"

"A Christmas present is always a love confession. Doesn't matter what it is," said Kira. "But it's generally pretty serious."

Regardless of how he felt about Cagali, Athrun had no intention of giving her a love confession. For now, the relationship between him and Cagali was fine the way it was. He didn't want to scare her away by over zealously shoving his affections in her face. "What if it's something like a candy bar?" asked Athrun, intently.

Kira thought about it. "I... suppose that could be taken as a joke," said Kira. "Or more like, 'I love you but I think you'll reject me so I didn't spend much money.' Who else did you give gifts to?"

"Just you, Lacus, and Cagali," said Athrun.

Kira looked slightly uncomfortable when Athrun mentioned Lacus, but said, "well, Lacus and I know better," he assured himself, "and you're in love with my sister anyways. I don't see what the problem is."

"Doesn't mean I wanted to tell her." Athrun said dully.

"She already knows, doesn't she?"

"Thinking it and being told are different. I don't want to pressure her."

"Give me a break. She chose to go stay with you on PLANT as a Natural slave by her own free will. If she didn't at least like you she wouldn't be there," said Kira.

"You'd be surprised," said Athrun.

"Fine then. Tell her it was a mistake," said Kira.

"She might misunderstand."

Kira rolled his eyes and grabbed his pathetically wrapped present from Athrun's hands. "I can fix this," he said, and then headed off in the direction of Cagali's bedroom. "Hey Cagali! Look what your boyfriend got me!" he said in a loud voice. Athrun plopped himself down on the couch and sighed. A moment later, he heard Kira's voice at a normal volume, "this is actually pretty neat..."

Shortly, Cagali came to find him, smiling. "Athrun- next time you're in Orb, avoid giving people presents around Christmas time. Did Kira tell you? A Christmas present is a love confession."

"He told me just a minute ago," said Athrun. "Sorry, I didn't know."

"I completely forgot that Lacus did the same thing the first year she was here," said Cagali. "That was a mess."

"What happened?"

"She gave several of her friends Christmas presents, and then she had to go and tell everyone that she had made a mistake. Apparently, some of them really liked her," she said. "Like Kira. He was pretty disappointed."

Like that, Athrun's awkward mistake blew over seamlessly, but he still couldn't help but wonder.

Kira left Athrun and Cagali off in Onogoro that afternoon, where Cagali gave him a tour of the city. That day, the sky was full of white puffy clouds that graciously kept the sun from baking him alive. The best thing about being in Orb was that he could walk side by side with Cagali, talk to her, and no one thought there was anything strange about a Coordinator being friendly with a Natural. He hadn't gotten to spend this much time with her in ages. He doubted he would be able enjoy this same freedom on PLANT.

After dinner, they retired to their hotel rooms early- neither he nor Cagali had gotten too much sleep with the baby crying all night long. He was ready to fall asleep. Athrun had just taken a shower and was about ready to crawl in bed when he heard a knock on the door. As expected, it was Cagali. He opened the door.

"Can I come in?" said Cagali.

Athrun nodded, gesturing for Cagali to come into the hotel room. "Back to PLANT tomorrow," he said.

"Are you ready to go back?" she asked.

"Yeah. What about you? Getting cold feet at the thought of going back yet?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm ready to head back as well."

"I don't quite understand you sometimes," said Athrun. "Orb's your home, and on PLANT you're a Natural Slave, yet you're ready to go back."

"It's been nice to visit, but I can't really think of staying here. Or calling it home. I've got nowhere to go," she said.

"Kira would welcome you back at his house with open arms," said Athrun.

Cagali shook her head again. "He's married and has a baby. It's different from before. Kira's not the same either. I don't belong there anymore."

"You belong here more than you belong on PLANT," said Athrun.

"Do you not want me to come back with you?" Cagali asked. "You want me to stay in Orb?"

Athrun took a deep breath before answering. "I want you to be happy. In Orb, you could get a nice job, live on your own... It'd be better for you."

"You want me to stay here?" she asked again.

"If you want," he said. "I'd miss you terribly, but I'm not selfish enough to make you come back with me."

"I don't want to stay here," she said. "Honestly, this has all been so crazy for me. It's like everything here has changed. Kira and Lacus already married, and with a _baby._ I mean, they're only eighteen. Too young, don't you think so?" said Cagali.

"Young? The concept's not that strange to me," said Athrun, with a shrug. "Don't you remember? Lacus and I were engaged. If it weren't for Kira, she and I would have gotten married this past June or July."

Cagali looked at Athrun, her face with surprised realization. "I'd forgotten about that... Is marriage at such a young age common on PLANT?"

"Yeah, it's pretty much the norm. Maybe about half of all marriages happen before either the husband or wife is twenty. And most are arranged."

"That's insane; arranged marriages and marriage when you're so young. Sounds like barbaric ancient customs to me. Don't you want to have your own life?" asked Cagali.

"It's what Lacus wanted. Get married early and have children, as many as possible," said Athrun.

"As many as possible? Like ten- or twelve?" said Cagali, shocked.

"Twelve? More like _one. _I've never heard of any Coordinator being able to have that many children. Don't you know? Fertility is a major problem among Coordinators. There are dozens of new regulations addressing the issue."

"Like what?"

"Like when we're eleven years old, we get genetic tests to find our matches with whom we could have viable children, and then a few years later, we are tested to see how fertile we are. Half of all Coordinators have some sort of fertility issue, and it's even worse among later generations- like Lacus. I don't have any fertility problems, but she does. She'll be sterile by the time's she's twenty. And she really wanted children, so she opted for an early, arranged marriage."

"I... had no idea," said Cagali.

"Her problem is one of the most common," said Athrun. "A shortage of eggs, and most of them not developing properly. Hormone therapy helps but I bet she went into menopause after giving birth... I suppose I shouldn't be telling you private things about her."

"Who am I going to tell? Her husband, Kira?" she asked.

Athrun shrugged, "Good point."

"If you don't mind me asking... how did you end up engaged to her?" Cagali asked.

"That's a rather long story," said Athrun.

"Well, we don't exactly have anything else to do," she said.

"I suppose not." Athrun agreed. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, since our parents knew each other, we've been friends since we were little. I heard about her fertility results, and I knew wanted she children. I thought she just wouldn't be able to have any, but then I heard she was looking for an arranged marriage when she became of legal age, with someone who wanted to start a family right away. She was thirteen at the time."

"Thirteen?" Cagali asked.

"Rather insane, right? To be thinking about marriage at that age. Of course, most of her genetic matches open to starting a family immediately were at least twice her age, a lot of them much older than that. I couldn't stop thinking about her miserable, married to some forty-year-old pervert.

"I suggested that she look at younger genetic matches... and I found out that I was one of them. Then the thought kept bothering me. Lacus with an old man... so I ended up suggesting that I marry her when she became of legal age, and get her pregnant right away, like she wanted. Our families agreed to it, and so we became engaged..."

Cagali smiled and nodded. "That was very nice of you. Turned out to be a waste though, since she ended up married to Kira."

Athrun raised his eyebrows. "Frankly, she's lucky he happened to be a genetic match."

"How do you know he's a match? I've never heard of any of that sort of testing like that being done here in Orb," said Cagali. "I can't imagine Kira ever got tested."

"The baby has working organs and isn't retarded," replied Athrun. "That's how you know."

"A non-match would cause that many problems?" asked Cagali.

"Absolutely," Athrun replied. "I can't imagine having a child with problems like that. I hear about it from time to time. I can't help but feel sorry for the parents. How horrible. It'd be better to terminate the pregnancy before it was born."

A few moments of silence passed between them. Cagali crossed her arms, and looked out the window for a few seconds, then back down to Athrun, where he sat. "I don't think I could go through with that, even if there was something horribly wrong with the baby," she said.

"You'd have to take care of it for the rest of your life, and it would have health problems. You'd spend all your time and energy worrying, and all your money trying to keep alive a child who has no future," said Athrun. "It's best to be careful. It happens when people carelessly fall in love like that. It could have happened to Lacus and Kira. They're very lucky."

"I see," said Cagali. She contemplated something for a moment, and then asked, "Do you ever wish she hadn't met Kira?"

"He makes her happy, and I'm happy that she's happy," Athrun said.

"But do you ever wish things had gone as planned and she'd married you instead?" Cagali repeated the question. "She is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met."

Athrun thought about it for a moment. Marriage with Lacus. The idea of that baby being his instead of Kira's. And then Cagali would be... He shook his head promptly. "Nope. We were never more than friends. She's better off, and frankly, I'm better off too. Besides, I can get my revenge on Kira by stealing his sister," he joked. "Don't you think I deserve revenge? They're happily married, but me..?" he clicked his tongue.

"You're masochistic, you know."

"What? How so?" asked Athrun, surprised.

"With romantic relationships. Why would you set yourself up like that with Lacus, cutting off all other hope for finding someone you really cared for?" said Cagali.

"We were good friends. I cared about her. Maybe it was impulsive; I couldn't stop thinking about it. I thought I could help her," he said.

"With such a big sacrifice on your part? To get married and have children when you're still so young?"

Athrun shrugged and sighed. "I suppose I thought the benefit I could give her outweighed losses on my part. Honestly, I had no idea. I had a crush or two on girls in school when I was younger, but at the time, I had no idea of what it's like to fall in love. I had never even kissed a girl. I hadn't even held a girl's hand. I figured we'd grow to love each other."

"Hmm." Cagali gave a definite nod. "You're definitely masochistic."

"I'm not masochistic."

"Say that if you want. You've kept me around for the past few months, even though I've hardly been human enough to appreciate it. I know it can't be easy on you," she said.

Athrun let out a light laugh. "At times, yes, you can be awful company. But I'm happy to have you around. I'm much happier with you sulking in my house than I would be if you were here on Earth having a normal life living with Kira and Lacus... That makes me sound like such a jerk, but... As long as you want to stay with me, I could never make myself let you go."

"Masochist," Cagali repeated.

"Fine. If having you around is self inflicted suffering, then I'm a masochist," said Athrun sarcastically.

Cagali smiled slightly. "Anyways, I came here to give you this," she said. She stuck her hand out to him, offering him a rock. Athrun took the rock out of her hand, and inspected it. It was slightly heavy, circular, about the size of an egg. The surface was gray colored, porous and rough. "These are pretty common in Orb," said Cagali.

Athrun looked at the rock confused. "I hate to tell you this Cagali, but rocks are pretty common on PLANT too."

"It's not a rock." She sat down on the bed beside him and took the rock back. She gave it a twist. It rotated around a hinge into four sections layered on top of each other. Inside the rock were bright blue crystals. "It's a geode. If you don't want it, fine. I thought this one was pretty neat." She offered it back.

"Ah..." said Athrun in realization. He took the rock back from her, rotating it on the hinge. Of course she wouldn't give him a random rock. "I love it," he said.

"Good," she smiled.

"When did you get this?"

"This afternoon, when you were in the restroom," she said.

He couldn't help but smile and cheekily ask, "Is this a Christmas gift?"

Her cheeks reddened a little. "Christmas gift? No, just a token of appreciation. For everything you've done for me."

"But it's Christmas," said Athrun. "You're the one who told me to avoid giving presents at Christmas."

"Christmas was yesterday," said Cagali.

"That was Christmas Eve. Today's the twenty-fifth. On PLANT, we exchange gifts on the twenty-fifth," said Athrun. "I gave you your Christmas gift this morning."

"Well, we're in Orb, and here it's celebrated on the twenty-fourth. It's not a Christmas gift."

Athrun held the rock up to the light so that crystals sparkled. "It's still awfully close to Christmas," he said. "Unlike me, you know better than to give someone something around this time of year."

"Fine then. It's a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas," she said.

"Thank you," he smiled, looking at her. Is this a love confession? a voiced nudged him to ask. No- clearly it wasn't.

She stood up and walked over to the window and looked out again, perhaps at some of the passing lights. He was looking at the back of her head. Her blonde hair wasn't quite long enough to touch her shoulders, and Athrun found his eyes following the curve of her neck. "That mountain over there is aninactive volcano, so there are lots of geodes like that one laying around. Some are huge," she said, pointing.

Athrun put the rock down and followed her over to the window. "It's too dark. You can hardly see anything." He leaned toward where she was pointing.

"I suppose n..." She turned her head back towards him, finding that his face was rather close. She froze, her eyes locked onto his. She didn't move, didn't blink, only stared right at him. She took a step backwards, restoring the distance between them.

Her eyes locked on his, Athrun forgot about caution, and the words left his mouth on their own accord. "I really do love you, you know," he said.

Her response was to swallow and stare at Athrun. With the dead, frightened look she gave him, he felt his heart sink. At least now he knew how she felt about him.

"Sorry," Athrun apologized, letting loose a weak laugh at his own stupidity for saying those words. Even if it was true. "You don't have to feel the same way. I just want you to know." Athrun turned and looked back out the window. It was better than enduring the silence looking at her.

After a long moment, Cagali's voice cut through the air. "I'm sorry, I don't feel the same way about you," she said. "I'm very comfortable with you, and I enjoy being with you, but..." Her voice trailed off, but Athrun understood. She didn't have any romantic interest in him.

"I'll try, if you want me to," Cagali said.

Athrun couldn't help but look at her with confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"I've been thinking about it since this morning when you gave me a Christmas present. Even if you didn't mean anything by it, I know you do feel that way about me. I thought, I can't ignore it. If that sort of relationship is what you want. I'll try, if you want me to, but you should know I'm not coming from the same place you are," she said.

"You'll try?" he asked. She nodded. Athrun extended his arm towards Cagali. She looked at it tentatively. "Come here," said Athrun. She took a step closer to Athrun and grabbed her, and pulled her into his chest. She stiffened, and let out a breath of surprise. He tightened his embrace, pulling her closer. There was no way he would let her go now. Slowly, she relaxed. Her head came to rest on his shoulder so that he could smell the traces of a light, floral shampoo. Hesitantly, her arms wrapped around his waist.

"How is it?" Athrun asked.

"Not bad," she said.

"I feel so lucky to have you with me," said Athrun.

"Masochist," she muttered into his shoulder.

"If this is supposed to be painful, then I want you to torture me every day for the rest of my life," he said.

"You deserve much better than me," she said. "I'm sorry, Athrun... I'm not worthy of you. I'm not worthy of anyone. I don't deserve anything in this world or the next. I tell myself I should let you go so you can have your own life, but I can't. It'd be too painful."

"Why in the world would you say something like that?" he asked, pulling away from her to look her in the eyes. The look in her eyes was sad and strained. "Cagali, you mean the world to me. I want you with me, and I'm not masochistic; I'm selfish. I want to be happy. You make me happy. It's that simple."

"You'd be better off without me," she said.

"What about you? Are you better off with or without me?_" _asked Athrun.

"With," she said.

"Same for me."

A bit of hope sparked in Cagali's eyes in response to his words. A weak smile played on her lips. Athrun felt his stomach flip upside down inside him. The light, natural brown in her eyes was far more beautiful than any obnoxious color parents might have their children's genes edited to be.

The very fact that he was able to touch her at all was incredible. That he could feel her warmth... Dare he try to take this any further? She said she'd try.

He moved a hand up to her face, running his thumb along her cheekbone. Her skin was so perfectly soft. She didn't move, and her eyes didn't stray from his. He leaned closer to her and placed a light kiss on her forehead, then cheeks. He felt her hand move to his shoulder. He pulled back to look at her again, assessing her reaction. She didn't seem to mind. She looked up at him expectantly.

Athrun closed the gap between them, taking her into his arms once more. He placed another kiss on her nose, and she grabbed onto his shirt lightly. Then he took to her eyelids and cheeks. Light kisses, one after another. She pulled him closer, and he took her lips.

His mind was no longer able to think in words. Only touch, warmth, her lips, her smell. He brought her back to the bed, where he could lay with her and hold her in his arms. Barely any words passed between them. He didn't realize how long they held each other until he looked at the clock. Two hours had passed.

"Maybe you should go back to your room, Cagali. It's already past midnight. We have to leave for PLANT first thing in the morning," Athrun said.

"I suppose so..." she agreed.

"Unless you want to stay here with me tonight," he suggested. She looked a bit apprehensive and Athrun quickly clarified, "just sleep. I don't think either of us is ready for more than that."

She considered it and nodded. "Okay," she said.

* * *

><p>December 26, CE 71<br>Civilian Shuttle Flight 16

Athrun rubbed his left shoulder and rolled it in circles. It did little to alleviate the soreness. Cagali had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and as the hours passed, her head became increasingly heavier. It didn't help that he was running on next to no sleep. Holding her in his arms, feeling her so close and warm had made Athrun happier than he'd ever been. But then an unfamiliar inner-Athrun had woken up and started playing mind games with his normal self, asking Athrun questions like, 'what would she look like with no clothes on?' and 'doesn't her chest look warm and soft?' 'would she notice if you touched it?' Her eyelashes had fluttered faintly once in a while. Was she dreaming about the same thing he was thinking?

Her sleeping face was calm and beautiful, her lips, tender and silken, her form, flawless and enticing. He had memorized the feel of her warm, soft skin, running his hands along her stomach and back. But that was all. As tempting as she was, he didn't dare allow his hands to wander. So he lay there with her, his imagination replaying scenarios of the two of them perfectly melded together between the sheets- no thin, fabric layer of separation. All the while, she obliviously drooled on his shirt, and he grew increasingly sore, his shoulder being the lesser of the two offenders. Needless to say, Athrun Zala hadn't slept a wink.

When it came to Cagali, maybe he really was masochistic. Never-the-less, he couldn't have been happier. Cagali sat to his left in the shuttle. She'd try, she said. Try having a romantic relationship with him. And in turn, he'd be doing everything he could think of to have her fall in love with him.

She was staring out the window into space. She held his hand in her lap playing with his fingers absent mindedly. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt again, so that O04172 was clearly visible on her left arm in accordance with the regulations on Natural slaves. Athrun had to tell his other voice, which was currently inciting him to imagine her soft, warm, small hand touching a different part of him, to shut up.

Only a year ago, Athrun would have chastised Nicol for showing any affection for Tati in public. He had discouraged their relationship, and couldn't understand how Nicol could be so stupid to publicly display affection to a Natural. Now, Athrun understood. Personally, he felt like Cagali had replaced his brains with rocks. All intelligence and reasoning skills he thought he possessed vanished when it came to her.

He wanted to touch her, to say affectionate things to her, to hold her, to kiss her, no matter where they were. He had no desire to take his hand away. However, unlike Nicol, Athrun had enough common sense to exercise restraint.

"Looks like we're docking," observed Athrun. He squeezed Cagali's hand lightly and pulled it away. "Public displays of affection on PLANT won't go over well," he whispered. "You have to remember that you're still a Natural slave."

"I know," she said, taking back her hand.

"We'll be home soon enough," said Athrun.

They exited the shuttle and made their way to Immigration. Soon, they reached the Immigration official. "Papers please," he said. Athrun handed him his and Cagali's documents. The official scanned the documents into the computer. His eyes shifted as he read the content on the screen. He picked up a phone and made a quick call.

"Mr. Zala, you're free to go, but we need to keep her," he said.

Athrun looked to Cagali. The two shared a surprised expression. "Why?" he asked.

"There's been an order to bring in several Naturals, and O04172 is one of them," he said. "Someone from the Natural Registration Center will contact you about a replacement."

"Replacement?" Athrun felt his heart jump. Two ZAFT greens were headed in their direction. "What's wrong with her?"

"All I know is that the number is on the list," said the official.

"This one's O04172?" asked one of the ZAFT greens, arriving at the Immigration Check point. He checked Cagali's arm. "You'll be coming with us," he said. He spun her around, clipping a pair of hand-cuffs on left wrist.

"Athrun!" she reached out to Athrun with her free hand. Her eyes were wide and terrified. The ZAFT grabbed her free arm and clipped it into the hand-cuffs.

Athrun grabbed the ZAFT green by the arm. "She's not going anywhere until I get an explanation. What the heck has she done?"

"There has been an executive order put out by Chairman Durandal to bring in suspicious Naturals," said the ZAFT green. "She's connected to upper echelon of the Atlantic Federation."

"The Atlantic Federation? That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard," spat Athrun. "She has nothing to do with the Earth Alliance."

"The NRC will contact you about a replacement..." said the green.

"I don't want a replacement. I won't allow you to take her anywhere," said Athrun. "You've got no reason to take her. Let her go."

The green passed Cagali along to his comrade. "Take her to the back. I'll deal with this guy."

Cagali looked at Athrun, eyes pleading for help. Over the next few seconds, Athrun wasn't thinking enough to be aware of his body's actions. He yanked Cagali away from the ZAFT soldier. Someone grabbed him from behind. He pushed him, knocking him to the floor.

"I think we may need to take this guy in as well," said one of the greens.

As soon as the other ZAFT green was up off the floor, Athrun felt the cool metal barrel of a gun pressed up against the back of his head. He froze, but didn't dare let go of Cagali. His hesitation was all it took. She was pulled away from him, his hands forced behind his back into their own pair of handcuffs.

The last he saw of her, she looked back at him with frightened eyes that pleaded for help. And he could do nothing.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry to everyone who wanted to see me nurture Cagali's character. If I wanted to focus on that, I'd have to plot the entire story around it. which would be a pain. It's easier to just get rid of her.<p>

(1)- Unless you're in the tropics, plants have adapted to grow in seasons. That means that they are stimulated to flower and grow by the change in temperatures/length of day. Wheat- as you see being grown in the scene of Junius Seven getting blown up in Gundam SEED- is not a tropical crop, so I'm assuming Junius Seven was growing other non-tropical crops. Therefore I believe that unlike other colonies, an agricultural colony would have a reason to have winter, though perhaps not a long winter.

(2) Haro is what it sounds like if a Japanese person tries to say Hello. The Japanese wikipedia site says Haro's name came from a computer named Hal in "The Space Odyssey," but it didn't have a sitation.

REVIEW if you want more story.


	5. Chapter 5

Aprillius Four  
>December 31 CE 71<p>

The ZAFT Green shut the door and turned the lock, leaving Athrun Zala alone in the interrogation room once again. The room was the size of a walk in closet, with four white walls closing in on a table and two chairs. Athrun sat facing the door and the one way window on the same wall. His reflection showed exactly how he felt. Gray prisoner's clothes, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Desolation. Worthlessness. Failure as a human being.

He crossed his arms and put his head down on the table.

Cagali was gone, and in sheer stupidity at the heat of the moment, he'd landed himself here, in an interrogation room for days on end unable to do anything to get her back. He hadn't the slightest clue about what had happened to her. She could be dead for all he knew.

If she had decided to stay in Orb with Kira, he could have visited her when he had time. If she had run off on her own, he could have searched for her. If she had left him, telling him never to come looking, he could have at least known that it was her choice. But taken into ZAFT custody... the chance that he would see her again...

His stomach churned at the thought. He couldn't be sure- that was all the hope he had. He couldn't be sure.

He'd collected himself for the interrogator, carefully thinking over his words before speaking. If Cagali were innocent, perhaps he wouldn't have been as cautious. But almost a year ago, she had broken into ZAFT headquarters and stolen information that could have led to the destruction of the PLANTs if placed in the wrong hands. However, it was well known that Orb rather than the EA that had pulled that stunt, and so far, the interrogator hadn't asked any questions that lead Athrun to believe that Cagali had been connected to the ZAFT headquarters break in.

Instead, Athrun answered questions like...

"Why were you in Orb?"

To which he replied, "To attend Lacus Clyne's wedding," conveniently leaving out the part of Cagali's relation to the groom.

"Why did you bring your Natural with you?

"She's been well behaved, so I decided to let her come."

"Weren't you concerned she'd run away?"

"I would have let her stay if she wanted to," Athrun told him.

"Why didn't she stay?"

"Because she wanted to be with me." This was answer might have been a lie. He couldn't guess what was going through that Natural's head.

"What sort of relationship do you have with the Natural?"

Athrun had expected the question, but weighed the consequence of his words before answering. Relationships with Naturals were not looked upon favorably, but he was certain that she was being questioned separately. Their stories needed to match. Besides, he wanted her back, and he needed a logical reason why.

Then came the most ignorant, random accusations about Cagali's supposed affiliation with the Earth Alliance and Blue Cosmos. Did she meet with Blue Cosmos members in Orb? How has she contacted the Earth Alliance from PLANT? How did you hide her involvement in the violent attacks by Natural Slaves on the December Two Colony?

Athrun only needed to listen to the accusations for a few minutes before he came to a conclusion: ZAFT didn't know anything about Cagali. He wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or grateful. Disturbed that they had taken her away from him without cause, grateful that they had a pathetic case against her, and they didn't know of her participation in Orb's military.

At some point in time, Athrun's thoughts became fuzzy. With the amount that he was worrying, he'd hardly gotten any sleep. He drifted off with his head on the table.

He didn't notice the door open nor the sound of steps in his direction. The sense of imbalance woke him an instant before his chair was kicked over. Athrun found himself inelegantly dumped on the floor as the chair clattered beside him. He pushed himself off the floor and turned to see who or what had knocked him over.

A newly promoted ZAFT Commander in a white coat stood over him, fuming. Yzak Joule was a familiar face, and the contorted angry glare he sported was equally familiar. His hair white hair was perfect as always- straightened and hair sprayed. Athrun didn't know what to think of seeing him here.

"SERIOUSLY ATHRUN?!" Yzak didn't bother to conserve energy by controlling the level of his voice. "YOU DON'T SHOW UP FOR PATROL FRIDAY BECAUSE YOU THREW A HISSY FIT IN IMMIGRATION OVER A NATURAL SLAVE?!"

Athrun couldn't care less about his absence from space patrol at the moment. "Nice to see you too, Yzak," replied Athrun, climbing off the floor. "Are you here to try and interrogate me as well? It's not proper to treat PLANT citizens like that."

Yzak responded with a disgusted, guttural 'humph.' "Luckily for you, no. I put in a good word for you and they're letting you out with just a fine," said Yzak. "But you and I need to have a talk."

"What?" asked Athrun.

"Not here," said Yzak. He walked over to the door, gesturing for Athrun to follow him. "We're leaving. Move."

Athrun followed Yzak out of the room. The same ZAFT green that had interrogated him earlier gave him his civilian clothes back, and Athrun changed before leaving the building. Once outside, Athrun was surprised to find it already dark. On the side walk, a group of friends were walking together, singing loudly. Undoubtedly, they were drunk. With a combination of jet lag and a lack of sleep, Athrun had no idea what time it was.

When asked the time and date, Yzak told him, "Nine PM, the thirty-first."

Mentally, Athrun counted the days in his head. The lack of the sun or a clock or a sleep schedule had him guessing at least a week. "So I've been in there five days?" he said, more to himself than to Yzak.

"Serves you right," Yzak shrugged, completely unsympathetic. Yzak hailed a taxi, and he and Athrun climbed in. The car headed off to Yzak's apartment. "I'd expect something like this from Nicol, but it seems like Athrun Zala has Natural girl fever too."

"Something wrong with Natural girls?"

"They're practically a different species. Might as well be sleeping with a Neanderthal."

Athrun didn't even have enough energy to roll his eyes. They arrived at Yzak's apartment building a few minutes later. They boarded the elevator and left for the eleventh floor. A moment later, they were in front of Yzak's door.

Yzak typed in an unlock code, and the door opened. He stepped inside, sending Athrun a glare that told him to follow. Athrun entered. He had never been here before; Yzak wasn't the type of person to regularly call over house guests. Once inside, the first thing he noticed was the sound of a cello playing a slow melody. It struck him odd that Yzak listened to this type of music, but then again, he didn't know Yzak well enough to judge. The interior of the apartment was minimalist- no carpet, no decorations, nothing more than the basics necessities. There was a kitchen that looked like it had never been used, and a set of table and chairs.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" asked Athrun.

Yzak shut the door and reactivated the lock. He walked over to his kitchen table and sat down. "I know you don't want to hear this, but you need to forget about that Natural."

"I can't do that."

"ZAFT has been rounding up Naturals who have connections with the Earth Alliance. That girl is connected. Forget about her."

Athrun narrowed his eyes. "Impossible. You don't know her. She has had nothing to do with the EA."

"What proof do you have?" asked Yzak.

"She's from Orb."

"She's lying," said Yzak. "I've seen the investigations done on Natural slaves. The Chairman signed an order to bring nine slaves last week, and another eighteen this week. I'll show it to you."

"Whatever information they have is wrong. She's from Orb," said Athrun.

Yzak sighed. He turned away from Athrun and called out into his apartment. "Hey girl! Come get us some drinks!"

Abruptly, the cello stopped. With puzzled realization, Athrun asked, "There's a girl here?"

"I've acquired a free Natural Servant for a month or two," said Yzak, indifferent. "Seriously Athrun, you're starting to remind me of Nicol. At least you make better conversation. I can only listen to him prattle on about fugue in Mahler's Twelfth for so long before I feel like my head is going to explode."

A familiar female voice responded in correction, "There is no Mahler's Twelfth. He died writing the tenth."

Athrun looked up sharply when he recognized the voice. To his horror, his eyes confirmed what his ears had heard. The Natural slave was about the same height as Cagali- the most common size for Natural girls on the capital colony- with glasses and brown hair that had grown longer since he had last seen her. Athrun's jaw dropped.

"Look, girl, Nicol make like it for you to treat him that way, but I do not appreciate it," said Yzak.

"Tati?!" said Athrun, louder than had intended. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Don't talk to her, she's got a big enough head as it is. Drinks girl, now," demanded Yzak. "Get us two beers."

Briefly, her eyes met Athrun's, and then she looked back to Yzak. "Yes sir." She smiled bitterly and turned around.

"Yzak- what is she doing here?" asked Athrun.

"As it turns out, Nicol got into a bit of trouble for how public he is about his relationship with his pet Natural. You and I both know it was only a matter of time," said Yzak. He chuckled slightly. "But I never would have imagined that it would be _NExTA _that would get him. He's such a big supporter!"

Athrun looked between Yzak and Tati, wondering where Nicol was now. "Don't tell me NExTA's proposed changes in property rights got passed," he said.

"Nope." Yzak shook his head, a snarky grin stretched out from ear to ear. He clearly found this amusing. "They got him for _sexual abuse_."

The best response Athrun could manage was a startled "_what_?"

"Surprising isn't it?"

"Nicol would never hurt her," said Athrun.

"Come on, it's no secret that he sleeps with her. And according to the new law NExTA got passed, any incident of sexual relations between Naturals and their owners is being treated as rape," said Yzak.

"What proof do they have? Both of them would deny that anything happened," said Athrun.

"They found Nicol's semen with a swab test, isn't that right?" the last words were directed at the Natural girl mockingly. She had come back with a beer in one hand and iced tea in the other. She took a deep breath, her lips pressed together. She didn't deny what he said.

"Can you try to be nice?" asked Athrun. "Those are personal matters."

Yzak ignored Athrun's comment. "Am I out of beer already?" he asked, noticing the drinks she had brought.

"Athrun doesn't drink beer," she said, handing Yzak the alcoholic beverage. She gave Athrun the glass of iced tea. He thanked her. "May I leave now?" she asked.

"Go," said Yzak.

Tati nodded to Athrun politely before hiding away from Yzak in the back of the apartment.

"But still, why is she here?" asked Athrun.

"NExTA got clearance to take her away from Nicol and sell her to a new owner," said Yzak. "Of course, Nicol could fight for the right to keep her, but the new owner probably wouldn't want to give her back. So he and I set up a two month contract before NExTA could come get her. I own her labor until then, and NExTA can't take her. In the mean time, Nicol can appeal to keep her."

'Fast thinking, Nicol. Good save,' thought Athrun. He, however, hadn't been able to think fast enough to save Cagali.

"Both you and Nicol got into trouble because of your Naturals in the same week, and I have to be the one to help you out," said Yzak, taking a sip of beer. "You know what I think about romantic Natural-Coordinator relationships. But you and Nicol's cases are different. That girl," Yzak pointed his thumb in the direction that Tati had retreated to. "Hasn't done anything, other than perhaps making Nicol a nutty liberal, but other than his relationship with her, Nicol's loyal to ZAFT and the PLANTs. You, however, have been hosting a dangerous Natural involved with the EA. It's a good thing she's been dealt with."

"How many times do I have to tell you she's from Orb. There's been a mistake," said Athrun.

"Prove it." said Yzak.

"I brought her with me to Orb last week. She has family there."

"And then she happily went back with you to PLANT to be a Natural slave again? Family? More like she was passing on information to fellow Blue Cosmos members. Give me a break," said Yzak.

"You have no idea how stupid you sound talking about something you know nothing about," said Athrun. "They have no right to take her from me and I am going to get her back."

Yzak pointed to a manila envelope lying on the table. Athrun hadn't even noticed it there. "Look it over," said Yzak. "I technically shouldn't be showing this to you, but it's for your own good."

Athrun took the envelope and opened it, pulling out the contents. It was a summary report on the eight Naturals who had been taken into ZAFT custody the week before. They were all given some level of 'dangerous' at least six months before the order to take them in- and five of them were women. It was rare for female Naturals to be labeled dangerous, but it wasn't too uncommon for the men. Each of them had come from different colonies, but he didn't see any from Aprillius Four.

For each of them, ZAFT had an Earth Alliance identification record which had a picture, stated their name, rank, and not much else. One of them was labeled MIA. The rest, he could only guess, were sent to PLANT on purpose. Much like Cagali- except she was from the now friendly nation of Orb. It looked like ZAFT had gathered more information than the interrogator was letting on.

Athrun flipped through the records. Cagali wasn't included.

"And? What am I supposed to know from this?" asked Athrun.

"I haven't gotten the one on your Natural yet, this is the best I can do," said Yzak. "But there's solid proof that all eight of those were connected with the EA. They were involved in planning the recent attack on December Two." (1)

"This doesn't tell me a thing about Cagali," said Athrun.

"The proof is..."

"There's nothing here about Cagali, there is no proof. She's from Orb- I know she's from Orb," said Athrun. "I don't even know whether or not to believe this data. If they have something like this for Cagali, then it's fake. All of these could be fake. The EA IDs have hardly any information."

"So you still don't get it," said Yzak. "These are taken directly from the EA databases. These soldiers had their information deleted for a reason. If ZAFT was making it up, we'd do a better job. Not miss a dozen important fields on these Naturals. They're cleared for a reason. These are the ones the EA didn't want us to know about."

"There is nothing here that is even remotely related to Cagali," said Athrun. He pushed the report back into the envelope.

"Believe what you want. But are you going to pick a fight with the people who took her again so that I have to come bail you out of jail?- it will be jail this time." said Yzak. "Because if you do, I won't help."

"Is that all you had to say to me?" asked Athrun. "Forget about her, she's with the EA?"

"Even if there was an information mistake- which I doubt- forget about her. If they've got enough evidence to take her away, she'll probably be euthanized by the end of the month."

For a moment, Athrun's heart stopped beating. Cagali would be... "No... they can't..."

"Naturals are euthanized all the time. No big deal," said Yzak. "You'll get some compensation, though you may not be able to get a new Natural with the NExTA regulations."

Without thinking, Athrun stood and grabbed Yzak by the collar of his ZAFT uniform, yanking Yzak into a standing position as well. Yzak dropped his beer, which fizzed and dribbled out onto the floor.

"Just like that, you're going to get arrested," said Yzak. "Try to get your pet Natural back, I don't care what you in your personal life. But if you end up in jail, you won't be able to do anything."

Athrun released him. "Thanks for getting me out of interrogation and for the advice. But I don't think there's anything else we have to talk about," he said sourly.

"You're welcome," Yzak replied in a matching tone. He looked down at the spilt beer and picked up the can. Turning his head towards the back of the apartment, he called out, "Hey Girl! I've got a mess for you to clean up!"

Athrun was disgusted. "Nicol's girlfriend isn't your maid," said Athrun. "If you have any respect for Nicol, stop treating her like trash."

"I'm nice enough to keep her here, rather than let her get taken away and sold to someone who might actually think she'd make a good sex slave. But Nicol is too nice. She's a Natural slave; I'll treat her like one," said Yzak.

"I'll clean it up," said Athrun. He walked past Yzak to retrieve a towel from the kitchen. Athrun met Tati as she came out of hiding and stopped her, "you can go back, I'll clean it up," he told her.

"I can do it," she said.

"Don't worry about it," he assured her.

"I wish you had been here a few days ago. Then I suppose Nicol would have sent me to you rather than to Yzak," Tati said.

"I'm sorry, I've got more important things to deal with right now. I can't really help you. You'll have to put up with Yzak," said Athrun.

"I heard all about Cagali," she said. "Don't worry about me."

Athrun passed her and grabbed a towel from the kitchen. After soaking up the beer, he handed Yzak the wet towel. He said "good night," with a curt nod, and left.

Returning home, Athrun found that both his and Cagali's bags had delivered and left on his front doormat. Without Cagali there, walking into his house never felt so gloomy. He dragged in the suitcases and shut the door. The place was silent.

Well, he was out of ZAFT interrogation. Fantastic. Now what was he going to do? He had no clue. He could barely think, he needed to talk to someone better than Yzak. Athrun knelt down, unzipping one of the bags and retrieving his phone. Unsurprisingly, the battery was dead. He found the charger and plugged it in.

He had over fifty missed calls. He checked the call log. Kira. Kira. Kira. Kira. Kira. Kira...

That was not the conversation he wanted to have at the moment. He continued through the list, looking for a different name. Nicol had called on the day he was supposed to get in.

Athrun could guess that Nicol was preoccupied with his own problems, and probably couldn't help much. Athrun kept looking down the list. Kira. Kira. Kira. Nicol. Kira. Lacus. Lacus. Lacus. Lacus. Kira. Nicol.

So Nicol it was. Chances were, he wouldn't have to explain anything to him. He called.

Nicol answered on the first ring. -Hello?- His voice was flat and serious, not cheery like it normally was.

"Hi," said Athrun.

-So they finally let you out?- asked Nicol.

"Yzak helped."

-That's good. What about Cagali?-

"I don't know anything. I haven't seen her since our shuttle got in a few days ago." A few days ago. It felt like ages... "All I know is Yzak insists she's an ex-EA soldier," said Athrun.

-Do they have evidence?-

"If they do, it's fake."

-You know the Council is considering a treaty that will exonerate former Orb soldiers.- said Nicol

"They are?"

-It'll probably be another month or so till it goes through.-

"Oh."

-Did you hear about Tati?- asked Nicol.

"Yzak told me." said Athrun.

-You should get a lawyer, that's what I did. There's a firm that specializes in law relating to Naturals and foreign residents. I'll give you the information, you should write it down.-

"Hold on," Athrun went searching for writing utensils, leaving his phone where it was, plugged in and charging. "Okay," he said.

Nicol gave him the name, phone number, and street and internet addresses for the law firm. -Call them as soon as you can. I told them I'd have you call.-

"Thanks Nicol."

-Is there anything else I can do?-

"Shouldn't you be worrying about Tati?" asked Athrun.

-There's not much that worrying can really do for me. It's not the best situation, but Tati's with Yzak, so she's safe for now. But really, you should talk to the lawyer.-

"Alright. I guess I will."

-Good luck-

"You too."

Athrun hung up and looked at the information Nicol had given him. Should he call now? It was eleven at night on New Year's Eve. He called anyways, listening to the ring half-heartedly.

As expected, the answering machine got the call and Athrun left a short message. After hanging up, he realized he was back to where he started. Completely clueless as to how to help Cagali.

* * *

><p>Aprillius Four<br>January 1, CE 72

The next day was technically a holiday, but Nicol informed him that the law firm was open and that he had an appointment. He insisted that Athrun come with him to the office.

Athrun picked him up in the morning. Nicol was giving off an uncharacteristically dejected aura that filled the car the moment he sat down. He was just the person Athrun wanted to be around at the moment.

Athrun followed Nicol's directions and drove downtown, leaving his car in a parking garage. From there, Nicol lead the way down the street to the entrance of one of many tall, shiny windowed office buildings. They boarded the elevator and pressed the button to take them to the twenty-first floor.

"I never thought this sort of law firm existed," said Athrun.

"I suppose there's firms for all sorts of areas in law," said Nicol. "But this is the only firm in the Aprillius cluster that deals with Natural Slave related issues- I checked- so it is really expensive. I don't know how I'll be able to pay for all this."

"You get about the same salary as me, don't you? A ZAFT redcoat gets paid well."

"Since this is a specialize field, they charge PC 280 an hour, plus court fees and fees for everyone else working on the case. I have payments on the baby grand piano and the cello I bought, and of course, rent. I've already taken out a loan, and I'm afraid I might have to get another."

Athrun sympathized for his friend. Although Tati was safe compared to Cagali, wherever she was, Nicol had a host of problems that could possibly make his situation worse. He'd had money problems ever since the Junius Seven attack. Athrun had a nice cushion that he'd inherited from his parents to fall back on, but Nicol's family wasn't nearly as wealthy and had most of their assets tied up in property on Junius Seven, now worthless. It was only a year ago that Nicol finally had enough money to live on his own. Before then, he spend a year living with Athrun rent free, and another year with them splitting the rent. "Why don't you move out of your apartment come stay with me for a while? You can save on rent and bills." Athrun offered.

An exasperated "ugh," was Nicol's reply. "Thanks, but I'd hate to impose."

"You don't need to worry about it. I'm pretty much used to you and Tati," said Athrun. Not to mention now that Cagali was gone, the emptiness in his house was killing him.

"What about Cagali? Wouldn't you be more comfortable to be alone with her?" asked Nicol.

"Frankly, when I get her back, I'm sending her back to Orb right away," said Athrun. "If there's a chance that she could get taken away from me, she doesn't need to be on PLANT any longer."

Nicol shook his head dejectedly. "I see. Actually, I was thinking something along the same lines. I figure I could send Tati to Heliopolis ahead of me, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I really don't want to be apart from her for the next three years until I'm out of ZAFT. It's bad enough to be deployed on Earth."

"You could always apply for an early discharge."

"Right now? Yeah right. I'd have to lose a limb first, and even then, they'd give me a few months off and fit me up with a prosthetic. Besides, I need the money." With a ding, the elevator arrived at the twenty-first floor. "As awful as it is, I might have to take you up on your offer. Moving all of our things out would be a hassle, though."

"To be expected, isn't it?" said Athrun.

"Have you ever moved a baby grand piano from the sixth floor?" asked Nicol. He headed down a hallway and Athrun followed.

"Oh," said Athrun, considering the problem. He had forgotten about the piano in Nicol's apartment. "No, I haven't. How did they manage to get that thing into your apartment in the first place?"

"With a crane through the balcony. We had to take off the balcony door out of its frame completely."

Down the hall, they arrived at the entrance to the law firm. There were two heavy glass doors with the name of the firm printed on them. Nicol pulled the door open and let Athrun enter before him.

They were greeted by a the clerical assistant, a broad shouldered middle aged man, who went to find the lawyer. After a minute or two, a man with shoulder length blonde hair looking to be in his early thirties emerged from the back.

"Ah, Mr. Almalfi," he greeted Nicol. "While I had my doubts about an abuse case, your case is looking very promising. I was able to talk to the girl, and she confirmed what you told me. I do believe we'll be able to win your rights to the Natural back. Fredrick can explain the details for you." He gestured towards his assistant. The lawyer looked from Nicol to Athrun, his blue eyes focusing on the new customer. "And I don't believe we've met," he said to Athrun.

"This the friend that I mentioned the other day," said Nicol.

"I called in yesterday and left a message," said Athrun. "My Natural was taken away by a government program as well."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Athrun Zala, isn't it?"

"Right," said Athrun.

The man stuck out his hand for Athrun to shake. "Rau Le Crueset," he introduced himself. "It's a pleasure to work with you." Athrun took his hand, and they shook. "Would you like to come back to my office and we can discuss the circumstances?" asked Mr. Le Crueset. "The first consultation is free of charge."

"Yes, I think so."

"Very well then," said Mr. Le Crueset, leading the way into the back.

Athrun followed him to his office, a wide room with windows that opened to show a grand view of the interior of the space colony. The lawyer tapped on his desk and the surface lit up.

"Do have a seat," said Mr. Le Crueset. Athrun sat at the chair across from the lawyer. The screen on the desk showed a section of what the lawyer was looking at on his own computer screen. A database was opened, and Mr. Le Crueset asked, "What is the Natural's number?"

"O04172"

A picture of Cagali and the records that were accessible from the NRC appeared on the desk.

"Hm. A retrieved runaway, missing for two and a half months, found on Earth. That's impressive. Extremely Dangerous When Threatened? How did she get that label?" asked Mr. Le Crueset.

"She broke the arm of the auctioneer who sold her," said Athrun.

"Interesting. Does she seem dangerous around you?" asked Mr. Le Crueset.

"Absolutely not."

"According to the records, she was collected because of safety concerns. An executive order directly from the chairman, it seems."

"She was taken from me under the allegations that she is connected to the Earth Alliance. Cagali is from Orb; she has no connection what so ever."

Mr. Le Crueset looked at Athrun with peculiarity, and asked, "Her name's Cagalli? What's her full name?"

"Cagali Yula Athha," said Athrun.

Mr. Le Crueset put 'Cagalli Yula Athha' in a second database and got no result. "You sure that's her name?" he asked.

"She spells Cagali with only one 'L'," said Athrun.

"I see," said Mr. Le Crueset. This time, the database pulled up a hit. "I can confirm that she is an Orb citizen. Whether or not your Natural and this Cagalli are the same person is a different matter."

"Is there any information about where she is now?" asked Athrun.

"Considering that she was arrested under an executive order, it seems that such data is classified. I will have petition for special rights to access it."

"I see," said Athrun.

"I can definitely bring to question the legitimacy of her arrest in court," said Mr. Le Crueset. "From the information I have now, I can't tell the exact reason for her detainment, but I've dealt with government-claims, even of this sort in the past and have been able to see Natural Slaves returned to my clients.

"In the meantime, I recommend putting her under a freeze. Naturals are classified as assets, and freezing that particular asset would prevent her from being transferred, resold, or executed for a given period of time," said Mr. Le Crueset.

Athrun could feel his heart jolt. "What's the chance that Cagali could be executed?"

"I'm not sure. I can tell you that Naturals arrested for safety concerns are often executed, generally within six weeks. Exactly how quickly depends on the level of concern- but an executive order implies a high level."

"And a freeze would prevent that?"

"There are two types of freezes. An indefinite freeze can be overridden through a court ruling. A temporary freeze, up to two months, cannot be overridden. However, there is a month long gap until you can reinstate such a freeze." said Mr. Le Crueset.

"I see. How difficult is it to override an indefinite freeze?"

"Government prosecution almost always overrides it, but it is difficult for individual citizens," said the lawyer.

"Then a two month freeze would be better."

"Most likely. I am assuming you would like to enter into a contract for me to order a freeze," said Mr. Le Crueset.

Athrun considered it for only a second. He didn't have many other options. "Yes."


End file.
